Schindler: Excited with New Opportunities and Market Growth

"With more infrastructure projects coming up and buildings growing taller, the need for faster and smarter elevation systems is more than ever before and hence we are confident of a strong market growth over long-term. We at Schindler, continues to work on cutting edge technology, to improve the life of the components, and use light-weight materials to reduce the load and increase the energy efficiency of the elevators," says Mr. Rohit Parulekar, Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing, Schindler in an interview with Maria R.

How do you analyze the outlook and projections of the elevators & escalators market in India?
The Indian elevator & escalator market has been growing steadily over past few years due to growth in real estate industry. We saw a slowdown in last one year, but thanks to the new, pro-development central government, there are early signs of revival. We are confident of a strong market growth over long-term, and excited with the new opportunities.

What factors are pushing this market in India? Apart from residential and commercial projects, how significant urban transport infrastructure projects are like airports, metro, etc as your business drivers?
Residential segment surely dominates the whole market, due to oversupply and stagnancy on the commercial side. But it is only a matter of time before demand in commercial segment increases.

The infrastructure projects such as airports, metro and mono-rails provide a huge opportunity, and Schindler has been a proud partner in many of these, such as the new Mumbai International Airport terminal T2, Chennai Airport, Kolkata Airport, Mumbai Metro, Bangalore Metro, just to name a few. Apart from the high-quality products which we offer, it is our expertise in large project management which makes our customers look at us as their preferred partners.


With buildings growing bigger and taller, the need for faster and smarter elevators is more than ever before. It is vital that the traffic within such buildings is managed efficiently without long waiting times for the people within the building. Schindler’s third generation traffic management system – PORT (Personal Occupant Requirement Terminal) uses a state-of-the-art software to integrate efficient traffic management and a host of powerful access, communication, security, and energy saving features, which revolutionizes the way people move through buildings seamlessly.

Today, our customers are well-travelled and demand the very best available in the world. The demand for customised elevators is rising. Precisely to fulfil this need, Schindler has recently introduced a new elevator Schindler 5500. The custom-modular designs of Schindler 5500 offer unbelievable flexibility to architects while designing the elevator shafts. Our customers can decide whether they want an elevator with a machine room or without one. They can choose the car interiors from a wide range available in the product, or they can simply order a bare cabin and create their own interiors.

How does your company keep pace with changing technology? Tell us about the latest technological products that your company has recently introduced in the country.
More than fifteen years back, Schindler introduced Machine room less elevators which today has changed the skyline of India. Our customers no longer need to construct machine room on top of the building, thus saving their money and time, besides improving the building aesthetics. This is a perfect example of how technology can help improve efficiency for our customers.

Our Corporate Research & Development centre in Pune continues to work on cutting edge technology, to improve the life of the components, and use light-weight material to reduce the load and increase the energy efficiency of the elevators.

Globally, Schindler has recently introduced Solar elevators and we plan to introduce it in India soon. Considering the power supply situation in India, we expect our Solar elevator would be the next game-changer.

What is your view on the safety standards for elevators and escalators followed in the country?
India is one of the few countries where manual door elevators are still being installed in new buildings. Besides being inefficient, manual door elevators can also be very unsafe. Equally important as the product is the quality of the technicians who install and maintain the elevators. A poorly maintained elevator, however good the product may be, can lead to unsafe incident or accident. It is critical that these technicians are fully trained and certified before they start working on the elevators. We hope the new Government puts in place measures to improve this situation.

At Schindler, we have consciously stayed away from the manual door elevators and as a policy, we offer only automatic door elevators. Our elevators always come with safety features such as automatic rescue device, landing doors with two-hour fire rating. Our three training centres train and certify each of our technicians before he can begin working on the jobsite, thus ensuring that the elevator is in safe hands. Schindler is committed to the safety of its customers and employees.