For India’s industrial organizations, 2025 is proving a complex year to navigate. While the country is experiencing strong economic growth, partly driven by a fiscal stimulus package, trade tensions with the United States—India’s largest trading partner—have sparked concern.  

These tensions also highlight India’s growing integration into the global economy: trade now represents 50% of India’s GDP, up from 16% in 1990. This growth means Indian companies increasingly compete internationally, especially in sectors where the country seeks to expand exports at a regional or global scale, such as refined petroleum products, automotive components, pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals.  

India’s Industry’s Triple Productivity Imperative  

In recent years, this competition has exposed productivity gaps and areas where Indian industrial companies fall short. Three stand out:

1. Low digitization of core functions and continued reliance on paper processes  

A 2022 study by Forrester for Adobe found that organizations in India still rely heavily on a mix of paper-based and digital workflows. Only two in ten business leaders reported fully digitized operations. In key departments like procurement, over 80% of processes remain paper-driven. This dependence on physical documents causes information bottlenecks, slows decision-making and increases compliance risks.  

2. Skills shortages and high attrition in blue-collar and technical roles  

According to the National Skill Development Corporation, demand for skilled workers stands at 103 million, while supply is only 74 million. A 2025 Deloitte survey shows that attrition among blue-collar workers has doubled. Additionally, 69% of blue-collar hires are temporary staff, making structured training and reliable access to operational knowledge even more critical.  

3. Persistent delays and cost overruns in industrial and infrastructure projects  

As of December 2023, nearly one in two infrastructure projects was delayed, and one in four exceeded budgets. In response, Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, launched the Digital Twin Strategy for Indian Infrastructure in 2023. The initiative aims to improve coordination, enable real-time monitoring and support scenario simulation—leading to more accurate planning, faster execution and reduced waste.  

To address these challenges, digital twins have emerged as a key enabling technology.

Why Digital Twins Have Become the Backbone of Industrial Projects and Operations  

A digital twin enables rapid access to information and supports better planning and execution of field work, from construction and installation to ongoing maintenance. Its impact includes fewer on-site visits, reduced downtime, better production efficiency and improved incident prevention.  

In a global survey by Hexagon of 660 C-suite executives and senior leaders across 11 industries, 96% reported benefits from digital twins. 62% found them immensely valuable. For 72% of respondents, digital twins are a strategic priority, with planned investment increases over the coming year.  

The appeal is clear: digital twins contribute directly to financial performance. For many organizations, they account for 19% of cost savings and revenue growth.

Identifying Three Prerequisites to Realize Value  

Three main obstacles hinder effective digital twin deployment: poor data quality, lack of interoperability and cybersecurity concerns.  

Data Quality  

Executives consistently cite poor data quality as the primary challenge. A functional digital twin must validate incoming data, flag inconsistencies and reject values outside expected ranges. Hexagon’s HxGN SDx2 platform addresses this by allowing users to define business rules for data validation before publication. It also provides out-of-the-box reporting on cross-discipline inconsistencies and enables transparent data handover between contractors and operators. 

Interoperability and Data Integration  

Another frequent challenge is integrating data from disparate sources and formats. Without interoperability, digital initiatives risk creating new silos, limiting the quality of operational decisions. SDx2 addresses this using large language models to automate tag and metadata extraction. It builds a searchable knowledge base and a unified digital thread across the asset lifecycle.  

SDx2 includes native connectors for major maintenance systems, including Hexagon EAM, SAP Plant Maintenance and IBM Maximo. It also supports process historians such as AVEVA PI System and Aspen InfoPlus.21. Further integrations are available via RESTful APIs, ensuring compatibility with existing environments. SDx2 supports both SaaS and on-premises deployments. 

By consolidating engineering tags, documents, work orders and other records into a central system, SDx2 improves traceability and usability, even for occasional users.  

Cybersecurity  

Digital twins introduce remote access to operational systems, making cybersecurity essential. SDx2 complies with ISO 9001, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, CSA STAR Levels 1 and 2, SOC 2 and other recognized standards. It includes safeguards to protect data confidentiality and integrity.  

This is critical. As Indian companies operate at a global scale, they face a growing range of cyber threats. Raising the country’s industrial productivity will require elevating cybersecurity levels to avoid the disruption and downtime a successful cyberattack can cause.  

For more on how Hexagon can support your digital initiatives, visit https://hexagon.com/products/hxgn-sdx2