Indian businesses stand to generate an estimated $9.82 trillion in gross value added (GVA) by 2035 through strategic diversification and domain-focused innovation, according to a new report by PwC India. The report, titled “Navigating the Value Shift,” outlines a framework for Indian companies to reimagine traditional sectoral boundaries and adopt a domain-led approach in order to capitalise on emerging global megatrends.
The ‘Make’ domain, encompassing manufacturing and industrial production among other allied sectors, is projected to be a key contributor to future economic growth. According to the study, this domain alone could expand from $945 billion in 2023 to nearly $2.7 trillion in GVA by 2035. Other transformational domains such as ‘Build’—which includes smart infrastructure, sustainable buildings and construction technologies—are also expected to fuel this surge in value creation.
The report identifies climate change, demographic shifts and technological disruption as key drivers that are reshaping global economic priorities and prompting businesses to redefine how value is generated. It argues that traditional sectoral classifications are becoming inadequate for capturing the full scope of opportunities created by these shifts. Instead, businesses need to embrace cross-sectoral domains that better reflect fundamental human and industrial needs.
The domain-based framework developed by PwC India encourages organisations to look beyond conventional classifications and explore integrative value pools across diverse ecosystems. As examples, the report highlights how telecommunications intersects with multiple domains, offering opportunities that cut across digital infrastructure, mobility, security, and data services. Likewise, the ‘Build’ domain illustrates how innovation in construction, building management, and urban planning can drive value far beyond the legacy real estate sector.
Sanjeev Krishan, Chairperson of PwC in India, stated that Indian CEOs are already responding to these structural transformations. In PwC’s 28th Annual Global CEO Survey: India Perspective, 40 percent of Indian CEOs revealed that their companies had entered at least one new sector over the past five years, with nearly half of them generating up to 20 percent of their total revenues from these new ventures. However, the report emphasises that to sustain this momentum and achieve exponential returns, companies must move from opportunistic diversification to intentional, domain-oriented strategies.
Krishan underscored that a domain-led approach offers a powerful way for businesses to rethink capabilities, collaborate across ecosystems, and design scalable, future-ready operating and revenue models. With India’s economy poised to reach $30 trillion by 2047, domain-based innovation could play a pivotal role in ensuring inclusive, sustainable, and technology-driven growth.
The study further illustrates how domains like ‘how we build’ are being reshaped by advances in technology, leading to the emergence of smart infrastructure, digitised project management, and integrated building ecosystems. These represent a clear shift toward intelligent, efficient, and sustainable built environments. The rise of these hybridised and tech-integrated domains points to significant cross-domain value pools that traditional sector analysis often overlooks.
The report concludes that Indian businesses must take a dynamic and forward-looking view of value creation. Those willing to embrace a domain-centric mindset and pursue agile, innovation-led strategies will be best positioned to unlock the vast economic potential ahead.
