CHENNAI: Recent cyberattacks on two major Indian manufacturing facilities have once again highlighted the growing cyber risks facing India’s factories.Bajaj Auto and one of its subsidiaries reported a ransomware attack affecting parts of its IT systems on June 23, while Tata Electronics disclosed a cyber breach the previous day.
The two companies said they have activated incident response protocols and taken steps to contain incidents.The successive attacks underscore how cyber threats have become a business risk rather than just an IT problem, as manufacturers embrace automation, connected factories and AI-driven operations. Manufacturing remains one of the most targeted sectors, said Vikash Yadav, Head of Enterprise India at Kaspersky.According to Kaspersky’s latest Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Threat Report for Q1 2026, manufacturing was the only major industry in which the share of ICS attacked globally increased, with Southeast Asia recording the highest level of such attacks.“Threat actors are increasingly targeting cyber-facing operational technology in remote locations,” Yadav said.
“As factories become more connected, they provide a greater attack surface for ransomware groups, advanced persistent threat actors, and supply chain attackers who exploit small vendors.”The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) also urged organizations to strengthen vulnerability management, network segmentation, multi-factor authentication and continuous monitoring as artificial intelligence makes cyberattacks more sophisticated.Many store floors still rely on outdated equipment that was never designed with cybersecurity in mind, said Debashish Roy, chief digital and technology officer at CEAT. “Companies need stronger separation between IT and OT networks with AI at the edge so that innovation does not come at the expense of security,” he said, adding that attacks on production systems can halt manufacturing, harm worker safety and disrupt business continuity.The effects go beyond production losses. While Tata Electronics and Bajaj Auto said operations were not affected, Reuters reported that the hack at Tata Electronics’ Hosur facility exposed confidential information about Apple and Tesla, including component details and images of unreleased Apple products.Srinivas L, joint CEO of 63SATS Cybertech, said India’s ambitions under the China Plus One strategy depend as much on protecting intellectual property as on expanding manufacturing capacity. “If India gains a reputation for intellectual property leaks, this could erode the trust that underpins China’s plus-one opportunity,” he said, adding that moving forward with sector-specific cybersecurity guidelines and stronger reporting of incidents through CERT-In would improve resilience.