Inside the Innovation Reshaping India’s Elevator Industry
In a few years, a 70-metre testing tower will rise in Gujarat. It will be one of the tallest structures of its kind in India—not a building, but a machine for validating machines. Elevator components will be hoisted, dropped, stress-tested, and monitored under conditions designed to simulate decades of wear. Data will flow from sensors to engineers. Failure will be engineered, not accidental.
That tower is a symbol of something larger happening in India’s elevator industry. The sector is no longer just importing technology and assembling it. It is developing, testing, and manufacturing its own. And in doing so, it is quietly reshaping how buildings are designed, how energy is consumed, and how millions of urban Indians will experience vertical mobility.
But innovation in elevators is not a single breakthrough. It is a convergence of engineering disciplines— mechanical, electrical, materials, software, and data science—each advancing at a different pace. And the gap between what is technically possible and wha t is actually deployed in Indian buildings is where the real story lies.
THE ENGINEERING SHIFT: FROM GEARED TO GEARLESS
The most fundamental innovation in vertical transportation over the past two decades has been the elimination of the gearbox. Traditional geared machines used a worm gear to transmit power from the motor to the traction sheave. They were bulky, required oil lubrication, generated noise, and demanded regular maintenance.
Gearless machines replaced that mechanical linkage with a direct-drive permanent magnet synchronous motor. The result: smaller footprint, higher efficiency, quieter operation, and lower maintenance. The innovation enabled the machine-room-less (MRL) elevator, which freed architects from dedicating valuable rooftop or basement space to mechanical equipment.
“Gearless elevator machines are compact, highly efficient, and ideal for Machine Room Less applications,” says Nayan Movaliya, whose company Tectronics has built a business around manufacturing these machines in India. “This allows architects and developers greater flexibility in building design while freeing up valuable space that can be utilized for residential, commercial, or amenity purposes.”
The energy numbers are significant. “Gearless machines can reduce power consumption by up to 40% compared to traditional systems,” Movaliya says. That reduction comes from eliminating gearbox losses, improving motor efficiency, and enabling regenerative operation.
But the more interesting innovation is what gearless technology enables downstream. Compact machines allow compact shafts. Compact shafts allow lifts to be retrofitted into buildings that were never designed for them—heritage structures, narrow urban infill, old housing societies. The innovation is not just efficiency; it is applicability.
REGENERATIVE DRIVES AND THE PHYSICS OF RECOVERY
An elevator is a peculiar machine. Unlike most building systems, it can generate electricity. When a cabin descends with a heavy load or ascends with a light one, gravity does work on the system. In a conventional elevator, that energy is dissipated as heat in braking resistors. In a regenerative elevator, it is converted back into electricity and fed into the building’s grid.
The physics is straightforward. The engineering challenge was making the drive system bidirectional, efficient, and reliable enough for commercial deployment. Modern VVVF (variable voltage variable frequency) drives with regenerative capability now do this routinely.
“The solutions are well established—gearless machines with VVVF drives, regenerative drives, LED lighting, and sleep modes,” says Omckar Desae, whose company ICARE Lifts specialises in custom-engineered elevator solutions.
But Desae introduces a necessary caveat that cuts through much of the industry’s green marketing. “On highrise and high-traffic buildings, regeneration gives a real return. On a low-use residential lift it adds cost without much saving; there the gain is in reducing standby consumption. So specify by actual usage, not by brochure.”
That distinction matters. A regenerative drive in a 40-floor office tower with thousands of daily trips will pay back its cost. The same drive in a 4-floor residential building with a few dozen trips a day may never recover its premium. The innovation is real, but its value is context-dependent.
THE INTELLIGENCE LAYER: IOT, PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE, AND THE LIMITS OF DATA
The most hyped innovation in elevators is also the one with the widest gap between promise and delivery: predictive maintenance.
The concept is compelling. Sensors monitor door cycles, cabin speed, vibration levels, and motor current. Cloud analytics establish baseline patterns and flag deviations. A bearing that is beginning to wear, a door operator drawing abnormal current, a brake approaching its wear limit—all can be detected before failure.
“Predictive maintenance powered by IoT sensors and cloud analytics is transforming this model,” according to TK Elevator’s editorial on the future of commercial spaces. “By continuously monitoring performance data, these systems can anticipate issues before breakdowns occur.”
The claimed benefits are substantial: reduced unplanned downtime, lower long-term operating costs, improved equipment availability. And in high-traffic environments—airports, hospitals, Grade A offices—the economics can be compelling.
But Desae offers a reality check that is rare in an industry enamoured with connectivity. “Remote monitoring genuinely helps when it catches a problem early—a door operator drawing abnormal current, or brake wear crossing a limit— before the lift breaks down. But data is only as good as the team acting on it. An alert in the morning means nothing if no technician reaches the site that day. Sensors do not fix lifts; trained people do.”
This is not a rejection of IoT. It is a recognition that predictive maintenance is a system, not a sensor. The sensor is the cheapest part. The analytics platform, the service infrastructure, the trained technicians, the spare parts supply chain— these are what determine whether the data actually prevents downtime or just documents it.
Desae’s own approach is selective. “We deploy connected monitoring where it earns its place—hospitals, busy commercial buildings, high-traffic towers. For a small residential building, clean rails, correctly set safety gear, and a technician who turns up on time will always matter more than an app.”
The innovation lesson here is about fitness for purpose. Not every building needs AI. Not every lift needs to be connected. The question is whether the technology solves a problem that actually exists in that context.
DESTINATION DISPATCH: THE TRAFFIC INNOVATION NOBODY SEES
The least visible but most impactful innovation in elevator technology is not in the machine. It is in the algorithm.
Destination dispatch systems replace the traditional “up” and “down” buttons with a system that asks passengers where they are going and assigns them to a specific cabin. The software groups passengers headed to the same floor, reducing the number of stops and maximising peak-hour capacity.
“Intelligent destination-dispatch systems that group passengers headed to the same floor help reduce crowding and waiting times,” the TK Elevator editorial notes. “This not only improves safety but also enhances overall traffic efficiency, especially in high-footfall environments.”
For Rushad Divecha, whose experience with high-rise development spans decades, destination control is not a premium feature. It is a planning necessity.
“We must abandon ‘rules of thumb’ in favor of rigorous traffic analysis. For taller towers, destination control systems are vital; they batch journeys intelligently to reduce stops and maximize peak-hour capacity. Lobby positioning is equally critical—poor planning can create a perception of waiting that undermines the actual performance.”
The innovation in destination dispatch is not hardware. It is software—traffic modelling, pattern recognition, and optimisation algorithms. And it is evolving rapidly. Machine learning is being applied to learn a building’s daily patterns and position cars in anticipation of demand rather than in response to it.
“Traffic prediction is the second [opportunity]—learning a building’s daily pattern and positioning cars in advance,” Desae says. “Camera-based safety is the third, such as detecting an obstruction in the door zone.”
TOUCHLESS TECHNOLOGY: BASELINE, NOT PREMIUM
The pandemic accelerated a shift that was already underway. Touchless technologies—mobile-based elevator calls, QR-enabled access, voice-activated panels—moved from novelty to expectation.
“The Indian gesture recognition market—valued at ₹1.2 billion in 2024—is projected to grow at a CAGR of 20.46% through 2035,” according to the TK Elevator editorial. “Within the elevator ecosystem, these features are no longer perceived as futuristic or premium; for urban Indians they are now a baseline expectation.”
Divecha sees this as permanent. “The pandemic permanently shifted touchless technology from a premium upgrade to a baseline expectation. Full-height infrared sensors, cabin air purification, and hands-free communication are now essential specifications.”
For existing buildings, the challenge is retrofit. “Modular modernization packages allow developers to integrate these features without a complete overhaul, ensuring that the elevator evolves with the new standards of safety and well-being.”
The innovation here is less about any single technology and more about integration. A touchless call button is simple. Integrating it with building access control, tenant directories, and visitor management systems is complex. The value is in the ecosystem, not the component.
THE MANUFACTURING FRONTIER: TESTING TOWERS AND DIGITAL PRODUCTION
India’s elevator industry has historically been an assembler, importing critical components and integrating them into buildings. That is changing.
Tectronics is building a 65,000+ sq. ft. manufacturing campus and a 70-metre testing tower. “Our new campus is being developed as a world-class production facility equipped with advanced automation, digital monitoring systems, precision engineering tools, and smart manufacturing capabilities,” Movaliya says.
The testing tower is particularly significant. “This facility will not only support the testing and validation of gearless elevator machines, but will also enable testing of various elevator materials, components, and safety systems under real-world operating conditions.”
Testing infrastructure is a prerequisite for innovation. You cannot improve what you cannot measure. A 70-metre tower allows manufacturers to validate designs under conditions that a laboratory cannot replicate—temperature variation, humidity, load dynamics, and long-duration wear.
The innovation implications extend beyond manufacturing. If Indian companies can test and validate their own designs, they can iterate faster, respond to customer needs more precisely, and reduce dependence on foreign intellectual property.
“Our planned capacity of 48,000 machines per year in a single shift will position Tectronics among the largest gearless elevator machine manufacturers in India,” Movaliya says. “This scale will allow us to meet growing domestic demand while significantly expanding our export footprint.”
THE SYSTEMIC BARRIERS: WHY INNOVATION DOESN’T REACH THE BUILDING
India has the engineering talent. It has the manufacturing capability. It has a massive and growing market. So why does so much of its elevator stock remain technologically behind?
The answer lies in three systemic barriers.
First: Regulation without enforcement. “IS 17900, based on the European EN 81-20/50 safety code, is now mandatory for new installations,” Desae notes. “This raises the safety baseline for everyone and brings Indian practice in line with global standards.” But enforcement is uneven. “How consistently it is enforced across states and across companies remains the real question.”
Second: Service rights and proprietary controllers. “Lifts are often sold at thin margins, and the building is then tied to that one brand for every repair and spare—along with pressure to modernise in seven to ten years, when a well-built lift should last far longer,” Desae says. This business model actively disincentivises modernisation and locks buildings out of technological upgrades.
Third: Skills and training. “India installs tens of thousands of lifts every year, and each one needs service for decades,” Desae says. “We are not training technicians at that pace.” Innovation in components means nothing if the people installing and maintaining them are not trained to the same standard.
“Installation quality is the most overlooked aspect,” Desae adds. “Today everyone has access to the same imported components, so parts are rarely the differentiator. What decides how a lift performs is how well it was installed—proper alignment of the rails, doors, and machine.”
THE NEXT FRONTIER: CONVERGENCE AND CLIMATE RESILIENCE
The future of vertical transportation is not a single technology. It is the convergence of several.
“The future of vertical transportation lies in the seamless convergence of AI, destination control systems, IoT connectivity, and smart access technologies into a single, intelligent mobility ecosystem,” Divecha says. “We are moving toward a reality where the building recognizes you upon arrival, pre-summons an elevator, and optimizes your journey before you even press a button.”
Desae adds a climate resilience dimension that is often overlooked. “Resilience is still underappreciated by many building owners. Three upgrades are becoming non-negotiable: waterproofed pit enclosures with sump pumps, Automatic Rescue Devices with battery backup to prevent entrapment during outages, and machine rooms positioned above flood risk levels.”
And Movaliya points to the next generation of materials and manufacturing. “Technologies such as predictive diagnostics, AI-driven performance optimization, smart monitoring systems, advanced magnetic materials, regenerative energy solutions, and digital manufacturing will redefine industry standards.”
THE INNOVATION TEST
India’s elevator industry does not lack innovation. It lacks the ecosystem to deploy it at scale—uniform enforcement, trained technicians, open service standards, and a procurement culture that values lifecycle performance over upfront cost.
Desae offers the simplest and most useful test for any new elevator technology: “Every improvement should be judged on one test: does it improve safety, uptime, or energy use? If it does not, the customer should not be paying for it.”
That test cuts through marketing. It forces honesty. And it applies not just to elevators but to every innovation in India’s built environment.
The testing tower rising in Gujarat is a symbol of what India can build. The question is whether the buildings that need that technology most—the aging housing societies, the under-specified commercial towers, the heritage retrofits—will ever benefit from it. Innovation without access is just engineering. Innovation with access is progress.
