All We Need Is Market Growth
Q: How has the elevators market changed? Has it changed from a sellers market to a buyers market because of the new players?
A: The impression that the elevators market was a sellers market is erroneous. This perception was caused because Otis has been the dominant player for so long.
Actually, there are three main competitors of Otis in India and they have been there for the last 10 to 15 years now. And stiff competition has existed in regional pockets. We have ECE in the north, which earlier had a joint venture with Schindler (Schindler has now tied up with Bharat Bijlee) and also Kone. Competition in the east has been the weakest because this regions players are operating without foreign collaboration. But even these companies provide stiff competition.
There was a lot of competition even earlier in the low end which catered to the single speed AC lift market, which was not a very difficult segment to enter. Only the high-rise building were fitted out predominantly by Otis as we are technologically ahead of the others. So everyone associated big buildings with Otis.
Today, as I see it, in anticipation of big business (I dont think the big business is here yet) the existing foreign partners are strengthening their tie-ups. ECE is trying for bigger and better partners and Mitsubishi also has a presence in the country. Hyundai has formed a joint venture with Kinetic Engineering, Pune. You see some movement happening in the industry. Thats the kind of scenario we are facing at the moment.
If one were to segment the market, it can be split into four segments