KOCHI: The elevator industry in India is yet to come out of demonetisation blues, according to Otis India President Sebi Joseph. Before the note ban, the industry used to grow at 6-7 per cent a year but following the disruptive move by the central government, growth has become almost flat, Joseph told Express here on Friday.
He, however, believes that things could improve by the second quarter of the next financial year with demand picking up. Also, given the pace of urbanisation in India, there is tremendous potential for the elevator industry to develop.
India’s elevator industry is considered the second largest after China. However, India is far behind its neighbour. Explaining this, Joseph said that the size of the market in China is at least 12-fold that of India. While six lakh units of elevators are installed in China annually, the number of installation in India is only 50,000, he pointed out.
One reason why penetration is low in India is because builders tend to use less number of elevators than required. “This not the case with India alone; worldwide, buildings are under-elevated. Traffic assessment has to be done before finalising the number of elevators needed in a building,” he said.
With 40 per cent of the Indian population estimated to be urbanised by 2030, the elevator industry is set to thrive in India, he noted. With the usage of elevators set to become widespread, it also calls for improving the efficiency.
In a bid to offer a comfortable experience for users, Otis is working on a mobile application and video analytics technology. While the mobile app helps a person move to the right elevator in a building, video analytics will automatically check how many people are waiting for the lift.
Otis recently unveiled two new aesthetic design themes, Aura and Atmos, which will be available in a select range of Gen 2 Otis elevators in India. Otis has also developed regenerative drive, a technology that helps to save energy consumption by 65-70 per cent.
The company currently has a manufacturing facility in Bengaluru, which harbours one of India’s tallest test towers (51.2 metres) that can test up to five elevators at a time.