Ceramics and Glassware: Two Towns, Two Different Industries

In March 2024 a homeowner asked a US tile forum whether the country a tile came from mattered. One installer answered with a number, not an opinion: "I upcharge 20-30% anytime I show up to a house and they have home depot tile." Another said the big-box stores sourced their tile "from India or China", and a third ranked Italy and Spain at the top and India near the bottom (r/Tile thread, March 2024 (opens in a new tab), three voices in one thread). The complaint wasn't about colour or price. It was about bow, sizing and mixed batches, the things that make a floor slow to lay.

Hold on to that installer, because he explains this whole industry better than any export statistic. India's official trade line lumps "ceramic products and glassware" together, and it was worth US$4.03 billion in FY2025-26, up 1.1% on the year before (Ministry of Commerce quick estimates, PIB, April 2026 (opens in a new tab)). But on the ground it's two separate industries in two separate towns, and they fail in different ways. One caveat up front. Forum voices on Indian glass are close to zero, so the glass half of this page rests on official records and shipping data rather than buyer stories.

Part One: Tiles and Sanitaryware

Where it's made

India's government lists Morbi in Gujarat as a Town of Export Excellence for "Ceramic Tiles & Sanitaryware" (DGFT Appendix 1B (opens in a new tab)). That's the official recognition. The size is murkier. The Morbi Ceramic Manufacturers Association says the cluster "consists of 610 units in total" making wall, floor, vitrified, PGVT and double-charge tiles from 20×30 cm to 120×180 cm, plus sanitaryware and technical ceramics (Morbi Ceramic Manufacturers Association (opens in a new tab), undated page). An older government-backed cluster profile counted 459 working units, and commercial blogs say 1,100 or more. We're not going to pick one. What matters to you is that the cluster is big enough that you'll be choosing between dozens of capable plants, not hunting for one.

The US shipping data backs the "one town" picture. Of the India-origin tile bills where the shipper is named, 63.3% come from Morbi addresses, with Ahmedabad and a Jaipur exporter further down the list. One thing to be wary of is that more than half the bills (52.3%) carry no shipper name at all, which is normal for this data but means the named picture is a sample, not a census. The full town profile, and what to check on a visit, is on Morbi. The product detail lives on Ceramic tiles.

The spec problem the installer was talking about

Go back to the forum. In a separate thread an Indian exporter told a US distributor that in India "there have been no issues till day if tiles were installed joint free", meaning butted tight with no grout gap. A US installer replied that "but joint is a no no. It's documented and not recommended" (r/Tile, April 2021 (opens in a new tab)). Neither of them was wrong about their own market. That's the point. A tile that's fine on an Indian site can be rejected on yours because the install norm is different, and the norm decides how much size variation and warpage you can tolerate.

So write the tolerance into the PO, not the brand name. Name the size tolerance, the warpage limit and the standard you'll test against, insist that a shipment is one shade and one batch per SKU, and have a sample from the production run checked before loading. Shade and calibre codes on every carton are what stop a crew from mixing lots on the floor, which is exactly the "home depot tile" problem the installer charges for. Test plans by destination are on Quality control.

How it ships

Tiles are heavy and cheap per kilo, so freight drives the decision more than in almost any other category. Mundra is the main gateway for Indian tiles to the US, and the one Morbi maker whose records we read shipped half a percent of its bills as LCL. Compare that with knitwear and carpet makers of similar size, who ran 12 to 38% LCL. If your order won't fill a container, you'll usually be buying through a consolidator or a trader who mixes loads. That's a normal business model, not a red flag, but ask who made the tiles and who answers for shade and calibre if a pallet is wrong.

What changes at your border

EU. The EU has had anti-dumping duties on ceramic tiles from India since February 2023 (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/265 (opens in a new tab)), amended several times since, most recently in January 2026 (Regulation (EU) 2026/191 (opens in a new tab)). The rate is set per exporting company, so two Morbi suppliers quoting the same tile can land at different costs. India has also lost EU GSP for the stone, ceramics and glass section for 2026 to 2028, so tiles pay the full MFN rate on top. The GSP table is on EU GSP for ceramics. Ask your customs broker which anti-dumping rate applies to your supplier's exact company name before you compare quotes.

US. Most Indian goods pay MFN plus 10% under Section 301 since 24 July 2026. Tiles aren't a Section 232 metals product, so that's the working rule, but confirm your HTS line with your broker. The tariff history is on India to the US.

Everyone. Morbi's kilns run on gas, and in 2026 kilns were reported shut because of West Asia disruption (SME Futures (opens in a new tab), Reported). If your launch date is fixed, ask the supplier what happened to their kilns during that period and build slack into the schedule.

Part Two: Glass

Firozabad makes it, but Moradabad often ships it

Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh is India's official glass town: a Town of Export Excellence for "Glass Artwares" (DGFT Appendix 1B (opens in a new tab)). The state calls it "the largest cluster of glassware manufacturing in India" with "more than 400 glass work units", most of them small-scale, making bangles, decorative glassware and utility glass (UP ODOP, Firozabad (opens in a new tab)). The town profile is on Firozabad.

Here's the bit you won't read elsewhere. When we looked at who actually ships glass to the US, Moradabad kept showing up. On the archived Moradabad district page, glass (HS 7020) was the main heading for 5 of the town's 20 largest US shippers, alongside iron and steel articles, furniture and aluminium. Moradabad is famous as "brass city", but its big exporters are mixed décor houses that put glass, metal and wood into one container. Our reading is that a lot of Indian decorative glass reaches foreign shelves as part of a mixed home-décor range from Moradabad, with the glass itself made in or bought from Firozabad (Indicative). That's fine. It's how décor exporting works. Just ask your exporter where the glass is blown or pressed, because that's the factory whose quality you're buying.

What to check

The forum record is silent on Indian glass, so we can't hand you a buyer's horror story. The checks that matter are the obvious ones made specific. For anything that touches food or drink, ask for a migration test from an accredited lab against your market's food-contact rules, because decorative glass and food glass are different products even when they look the same. For painted or lustred pieces, test the coating for lead, since EU Safety Gate has flagged lead in Indian-made décor and kitchen items (our analysis of EU Safety Gate alerts, 2021 to 2026). And for anything going by sea, agree breakage allowance and packing method in writing before the order, not after the first claim.

Back to the Installer

The US installer who charges 20 to 30% extra wasn't telling you to avoid Indian tile. He was telling you that cheap tile costs money on site when the spec is loose. Morbi can make tile to whatever tolerance you write down, and Firozabad can make glass to whatever test you set. The buyers who get burned are the ones who bought a price and let the factory choose the standard. Write the tolerance, the shade rule and the test into the PO, and check the anti-dumping rate for your supplier by name before you sign.

If you'd like someone to check shade and calibre at the plant before the container is sealed, SourcingSync (opens in a new tab) does that at origin.