Commercial production at Kone's 2nd plant in TN from next year

As part of its expansion plans to meet the increasing demand for elevators and escalators, Kone, a global leader in the sector, is starting a manufacturing unit at Sriperumbudur in Chennai, a top official said today.
Commercial production at the unit is expected to begin by the middle of next year and will cater to the needs of the domestic market and also neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Kone India Managing Director, Amit Gossain told reporters here.
The existing unit also manufactures components for modernisation projects in other Asia-Pacific markets such as Korea, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia, he said.

With 50,000 to 55,000 units domestic market size per year, the company has 20 per cent share, particularly in the elevator segment, which contributes 95 per cent of the business of the company, he said.
Stating that demonetisation and GST has resulted in a dip in growth by five to seven per cent in the sector, Gossain said after the initial hiccup, the industry started picking up and is expected to achieve a growth of 8 to 10 per cent during this year.
On the budget, Gossain, here to inaugurate the company's new office, said the major housing scheme announced in it and also to install escalators in railway stations will boost the industry.

Kone has entered into an agreement with IBM, which will further help harness the potential of digitisation and innovate new solutions, he said.