China plus one for tiles means you keep your existing Chinese supplier and add India as a second source, so that one disruption, duty change or quality slip does not stop your business. India is a realistic alternative to Chinese tiles for porcelain, glazed vitrified and large-format ranges, but you should move in stages, not all at once.
The aim is not to replace one origin with another. It is to hold two approved suppliers whose products can substitute for each other in your catalogue.
Which products move across most easily?
Start with the lines where your customer buys on look and size rather than a particular brand. Glazed vitrified tiles, polished and matt porcelain in 600x600 and 600x1200, wood-look and marble-look designs, and outdoor pavers are all made at scale in Morbi. Digital printing there allows a design to be matched closely to one you already sell. See Morbi tiles against China, Spain and Vietnam for how the clusters compare.
Be slower with products where your Chinese plant has a clear technical edge, such as very large slabs in the thinnest gauges or highly specialised surfaces. Test these with a small order first.
How do you run a second source safely?
Treat the first Indian order as a qualification, not a purchase. A staged plan keeps your risk small.
- Pick ten to twenty designs from your current range that have a close Indian equivalent, and request samples against your existing tiles.
- Test the samples for water absorption, breaking strength and slip resistance against the specification you already sell, using a recognised lab.
- Place one trial container with a single shade and calibre per size, and inspect before loading.
- Compare the trial with your Chinese product on arrival: face, shade consistency, packing, carton markings and documents.
- Increase volume only after two clean shipments, and keep orders from both origins running in parallel.
What changes in practice?
Lead times, payment habits and packing norms differ. Indian plants often work with smaller minimum quantities per design, which suits mixed containers, but you must manage shade and calibre per batch yourself or through an inspector. Read why quality drops after the first container before you scale.
Check duty exposure for your own market. Some destinations apply trade remedies to Chinese tiles, some to Indian tiles, and these change. Confirm the current position with your customs broker rather than relying on an article.
Keep your spare-stock policy in mind: customers who reorder expect the same shade, so ask each factory how it records batches. Why have a backup supplier explains the wider logic.
What can go wrong with a second source?
Splitting volume too early is the usual mistake. If you move half your orders before the Indian factory has proved itself, a bad shipment hits you twice: once in quality and once in stock-outs. Keep the incumbent supplier on your core lines until the second source has delivered at least two clean containers. Also watch for design drift. If the Indian tile is only close to your Chinese design, customers who reorder may notice, so approve a counter-sample and record the exact design code on both sides. Finally, keep your catalogue honest about which origin each design comes from, where your market requires origin marking.
Next step
A second source only helps if it is as reliable as the first. We find and audit Indian manufacturers, check samples and documents, have lots tested and supervise production and loading, so your trial container is a fair test. To plan yours, book a free sourcing review, or read how it works.