Johnson Lifts targets 20% share

Company may enter the public infrastructure space to meet its 2020 goals

V. Jagannathan (left), Executive Director, Johnson Lifts Pvt. Ltd. and Yohan K. John, Director, during an interaction in Chennai.

Johnson Lifts Private Ltd., a 53-year-old closely-held elevator company, has set its eyes on garnering a market share of 20% by 2020.

The company holds an 18% market share in the ₹10,000-crore Indian elevator space.

In an interaction with

The Hindu , Yohan K. John, a director and part of the promoter family, indicated that it could be a tough target. Yet, he was confident that Johnson Lifts would be able to hit its 2020 market share target.

Fielding a range of questions, he said the company could explore opportunities in public infrastructure space. He also hinted that Johnson Lifts could look at smart elevators, going forward.

Mr. John is the third-generation member of the family which founded Johnson Lifts in 1968.

V. Jagannathan, Executive Director, said the company had held a dominant place in the elevator space since 2009. A combination of factors ranging from customer-centric initiatives (such as introduction of energy-saving products) to ecology-friendly approach (such as introduction of gear-less motors) and focus on local manufacturing with the right product-and-delivery mix had all helped the company secure a privileged place inspite of heavy presence of multinational firms in the Indian market, he said.

At 55,000 units a year, the Indian elevator market is a distant second to China which boasts of 600,000 units a year.

‘Quicker urbanisation’

Asserting that urbanisation was bound to happen at an increased pace, Mr. Jagannathan, nevertheless, admitted that the post-demonetisation slump in real estate sphere had hit the elevator business too. However, he was optimistic that things would turn around sooner what with key policy initiatives such as the real estate and GST bills crossing Parliamentary hurdles.

According to Mr. Jagannathan, the company reported a turnover of ₹1,200 crore in 2015-16. The revenue stream from the services business fetched 200 crore, he added. It had a headcount of 6,000, he said. Starting from a small production unit at Vyasarpadi, it moved to a facility at Ambattur in 1988. Both these units were still making some components, he said. In 1995-96, Johnson Lifts set up a state-of-the-art production centre at Poonamallee near here. The liberalisation in the early ’90s, he said, provided the company access to technology and information. In 2003, it set up a manufacturing unit at Nagpur to overcome capacity and market constraints, he said. To a question, he said Johnson made a foray into the escalator space in 2009 by setting up a facility at Oragadam. “Today, we have a market share of 36% in escalators,” he said.

High-speed foray

Responding to a query, he said Johnson Lifts had entered into a joint venture with Toshiba to gain a presence in the high-speed elevator space. “Since we did not have technology for high-speed elevators, we entered into a joint venture with Toshiba by picking up 49%.” Mr. Jagannathan is also the Director of the joint venture called Toshiba Johnson Elevators (India) Private Ltd.

Quizzed specifically on the challenges faced by the company going forward, he said the availability of proper human resources could yet prove a big constraint.

In this context, he said Johnson was focussing on providing training across all its facilities in the country and also working with educational institutions to offer a course in ‘lift technology’.

To a question, he said the company had been cash-comfortable and debt-free all these years.