MUMBAI: Otis India, the subsidiary of Otis Elevator Company, the world’s leading manufacturer of elevators, escalators and walkways, has entered the high-volume elevators market for affordable housing by introducing energy-efficient elevators in the Indian market.
Called Gen2 Core, these elevators can attain a speed of 0.7 metres per second and provides options of machine room or machine-less room arrangements. They are designed for low-rise residential buildings with a height of seven floors.
Affordable homes make up almost 90 per cent of the demand for homes in India and this has become one of the focus area of Otis, a top official said.
Otis already has been deploying Gen2 technology in elevators for high-rise buildings since 2010 and the Gen2 Core elevators are built on this technology platform.
This product is an upgrade from traditional rope-geared systems to the permanent magnet (PM) gearless-belted technology ensuring energy-saving.
“The Gen2 Core uses Otis’ patented, flexible polyurethane-coated steel belts, the ReGen regenerative drive, which captures energy that is normally wasted during braking and feeds it back into the building’s electric grid, compact gearless machine and pulse monitoring system,” said Sebi Joseph, President, Otis India.
The Gen2 Core, he said, offered the affordable housing segment an elevator that is ‘environmentally responsible’. As India continued to urbanise, it needed sustainable solutions, he said, adding, “The Gen2 offers just that through its energy-saving and space conservation features.”
The Gen2 Core will be manufactured in India at Otis’ facility in Bengaluru with a delivery schedule of 5 weeks.
Affordable Housing
The current housing deficit in India stands at 19 million units and 95 per cent of this deficit is around the Economically Weaker Sections and Low Income Group segments. This segment is likely to get a boost as the Government is aiming to provide housing for all by 2022.
“Affordable homes do not just mean the cost accessibility of the home, but also lower operational and maintenance costs. Sustainable features are key to any affordable housing project. This product will help us to penetrate across the country especially into tier-1 and -2 cities,” Mr. Joseph said.
Gen2 Core would cost approximately 15 per cent higher compared with products with similar speeds in the market.
India’s new elevator market is estimated at at 48,000 units per year and overall the market is growing by 7 to 8 per cent. However, Otis India with a market share in the mid-teens has reported 20 per cent growth in its order book so far this year.
New orders
This year the company bagged new orders from Mantri Developers and Indiabulls, out-bidding competitors. While Otis would supply 1,000 elevators and escalators to Mantri Developers for its various residential, commercial, retail and villa projects over the next few years, it would supply 37 high-speed elevators including 18 SkyRise elevators to the Indiabulls BLU project in Mumbai.
Service Portfolio
Mr. Joseph said that Otis India had a strong service portfolio and that this business has been growing steadily over the years.
“Service is our strong point. We have over 80 service centres catering to 300 cities and ours is the largest network in the country. We maintain approximately 65,000 units across India,” he said.
Digital drive
In its efforts to digitalise its operations and services, the company had entered into a tie-up with Microsoft and AT&T in April this year. “AT&T will serve as the primary mobility provider for our field operations and Microsoft technology will extend the benefits of connectivity and remote monitoring.”
He said these tie-ups would provide the connectivity to create data, a place to store it, the capability to analyse the data, and a database of customers who can use the results of the data analyses. The data emerging from its operations is expected to be huge, considering there are currently more than 2 million elevators under annual service contract by the company, transporting about 2 billion people a day.
“The end result is that our elevators will become smarter, they will be connected to the building eco-system and our field employees will have better tools and our customers will have immediate access to our team and to their equipment to address problem of breakdown.” he added. This facility would be rolled out in India in due course, he said.
