For Finnish elevator major Kone, India remains at the centre of its strategy, not only for the size of the market today but also in terms of the potential it offers, the company’s top boss said.
Even though China still outsells India by almost 4:1 in terms of annual lift installations, the market in India is growing at a double-digit rate while sales are tapering off in China.
“India is one of our most important markets, in the size of today, but also in terms of potential,” Philippe Delorme, president and CEO of Kone Corporation, said.
Given that China is way ahead in urbanisation and density of high-rise buildings, there are still more elevators being installed in China (400,000 a year) than India (110,000). But India is catching up very fast, Delorme observed.
But it’s not just the market that makes India central to Kone.
“It’s a place where we manufacture for India and for the world. And we are actually ramping up our capacity in Chennai, where we have our most recent plant and one that is the most advanced in terms of manufacturing features. So, for all these reasons, India is at the centre of Kone’s strategy,” Delorme said in an interview with The Telegraph.
The company has technology centres in Pune and Chennai as well. It has invested ₹450 crore in the Chennai plant, which mostly caters to India.
With trade restrictions in place for many markets, KONE is using India as an alternative source for many countries, including West Asia, Southeast Asia, and even the US.
Residential demand
Residential buildings are the prime drivers of lift demand in India, even as the market is fragmented, with Otis, ThyssenKrupp Elevators, Toshiba and Mitsubishi being some of the international majors operating here.
Apart from high-rises — Calcutta’s The 42 on Chowringhee deployed Kone — villa lifts (for individual usage) are also in demand and where the competition is most intense.
It is also expecting business for modernisation as lifts reach end of life. “As the elevators are ageing, it is very important for them to modernise,” Amit Gossain, chairman and managing director, India and Southeast Asia, Kone, said.
The company has come up with a programme to modernise in a week, cutting it down from a month. Kone has a workforce of 7,500, with two-thirds of it being field
technicians.
Globally, Kone and Thyssenkrupp elevators are merging, and the impact will be felt in India too when the process is over by Q2 of 2027.