From side purchase to ₹20,000-cr industry: Startup cofounder spotlights India’s tempered glass boom

What was once an afterthought for smartphone buyers — a tempered glass screen guard — has now transformed into a ₹20,000-crore industry in India, underscoring the sheer scale of the country’s consumer-driven economy. 

Ashish Singhal, Co-founder of CoinSwitch, highlighted this shift in a recent LinkedIn post, pointing out how markets that seem trivial at first often evolve into billion-dollar opportunities. 

“Remember when tempered glass was just a side purchase? Now it’s a ₹20,000 crore industry. Corning is setting up an ₹870 crore plant in India. And BIS is creating quality standards for screen guards. This shows how India’s consumer economy creates billion-dollar markets out of nowhere,” Singhal wrote. 

The growth is fueled by India’s vast smartphone base — nearly 600 million users, most of whom upgrade their devices every 2-3 years, he pointed out. This recurring cycle drives demand for accessories like tempered glass, with domestic manufacturing now outpacing imports. Global players such as Corning have taken note, setting up large-scale facilities in India to meet this surging demand, Singhal added. 

Singhal drew a parallel between overlooked industries and emerging sectors such as AI, EVs, and semiconductors, suggesting that the next wave of opportunities may not always come from obvious technology frontiers. 

“We laugh at small markets. Until they aren’t small anymore,” he observed, adding that tempered glass serves as a reminder that some of India’s biggest growth stories could be “hiding in plain sight.” 

With policymakers like the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) introducing quality frameworks and global manufacturers expanding capacity, India’s tempered glass story reflects a broader trend: the rise of unexpected industries in the world’s fastest-growing consumer market.