PPAP for Indian OEMs: a supplier's guide to Tata, Mahindra, Maruti and Bajaj.
If you supply production parts to an Indian automotive OEM, the Production Part Approval Process is the gate between winning the order and actually shipping. This guide covers which submission level each customer expects, the 18 elements, and the handful of mistakes that send a Part Submission Warrant straight back.
What PPAP is, in plain terms
PPAP (Production Part Approval Process) is the evidence package a supplier hands the customer to prove two things: the part meets the drawing, and the process that made it can keep making conforming parts at production rate. It sits at the end of APQP and is governed by the AIAG PPAP manual, now in its 4th edition, and aligned with IATF 16949. Every Indian OEM — Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, TVS, Ashok Leyland — runs PPAP because they are all IATF 16949 certified and flow the requirement down to their suppliers.
The deliverable everyone signs is the PSW (Part Submission Warrant), a one-page summary declaring the submission level, the reason for submission, and the results. Behind it sit up to 18 supporting elements.
Which submission level do you need?
PPAP defines five submission levels. The level controls how much you actually send to the customer versus retain at your plant — you must produce all the evidence either way.
| Level | What you submit | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | PSW only | Catalogue / low-risk parts |
| Level 2 | PSW + product samples + limited data | Minor changes |
| Level 3 | PSW + samples + complete supporting data | Default for new parts |
| Level 4 | PSW + customer-defined requirements | Customer-specified |
| Level 5 | Full review at the supplier site | Safety-critical / high-risk |
In practice, almost every Indian OEM asks for Level 3 on a new part. The full element list, the dimensional results, material and performance tests, and process documentation all go in. Knowing this up front saves a round-trip: do not submit Level 2 hoping it will be accepted.
The 18 elements
A Level 3 package draws on the 18 PPAP elements. The ones that cause the most grief on the shop floor are highlighted:
- Design records (the drawing)
- Engineering change documents
- Customer engineering approval (if required)
- Design FMEA
- Process flow diagram
- Process FMEA
- Control plan
- Measurement system analysis (MSA / Gauge R&R)
- Dimensional results
- Material / performance test results
- Initial process studies (Cpk)
- Qualified laboratory documentation
- Appearance approval report (AAR, if applicable)
- Sample production parts
- Master sample
- Checking aids
- Customer-specific requirements
- Part Submission Warrant (PSW)
OEM-specific flowdowns
The PPAP manual is common, but each customer adds its own twist. Read the customer-specific requirements element carefully:
- Maruti Suzuki aligns closely with Suzuki's global supplier standards and is exacting on the control plan and on supplier change notification. Expect strong emphasis on the process flow matching the control plan line for line.
- Tata Motors and Mahindra run their own supplier portals and often ask for a specific dimensional report format and a documented initial process study on every special characteristic.
- Bajaj Auto and TVS, high-volume two-wheeler makers, weight cycle-time and capacity verification heavily — demonstrating you can make rate is as important as the dimensions.
Whatever the customer, the requirement to identify and capability-prove special characteristics (the customer's safety and regulatory dimensions, often marked with a diamond or an inverted delta) is universal.
Getting the dimensional results right
The dimensional results element is where most PPAP packages lose time. You must show a measured result for every characteristic on the drawing — which means the drawing has to be ballooned first, exactly as in an FAI report. The balloon count on the drawing must equal the row count in the dimensional report. Auditors check.
This is the single biggest manual time sink in PPAP. For a 150-characteristic body bracket, hand-ballooning and transcribing eats the better part of a day and introduces missed-characteristic errors. Automating the balloon-and-extract step removes that risk: CadNexa's auto-ballooning tool detects the dimensions, numbers them, and exports a CSV you drop straight into the dimensional report. One pass feeds both your FAI and your PPAP.
Why PSWs come back
From years of supplier audits, these account for most first-pass PPAP rejections at Indian OEMs:
- Balloon-to-report mismatch. 150 balloons on the drawing, 147 rows in the dimensional report.
- Cpk below target with no action plan. A capability of 1.10 on a special characteristic, submitted as if it were fine.
- Control plan that does not match the process flow. An operation in the flow diagram with no corresponding control plan line.
- Stale MSA. A Gauge R&R run on a different gauge than the one in the control plan, or expired.
- Missing material certificate. No mill test certificate traceable to the heat / batch of the sample parts.
Fix these before submission and your first-pass approval rate climbs sharply. The pattern is always the same: traceability and capability, documented, not assumed.