New elevator code may raise prices by 2-5%: Kone Elevator India MD

Customers can absorb price hikes, he added

The new lift safety code may lead to a 2–5 per cent price rise, which is minimal and absorbable by customers, Amit Gossain, managing director of KONE Elevator India, said, emphasising that all the states must implement it without delay before the deadline ends in December.

 

Currently, 15 states and one Union Territory have adopted the lift safety code issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

 

The BIS introduced the new code - IS 17900 Part 1 and Part 2 - in 2022, replacing earlier standards like IS 14665 and IS 15785 and bringing India’s elevator safety framework in line with global norms. These norms will come in force from December 22 this year.

 

The introduction of IS 17900 is seen as a much-needed upgrade to India’s elevator safety landscape. It aligns with international standards such as EN 81-20 and EN 81-50, and also introduces clearer provisions for emergency communication systems, overload protection, fire and earthquake resilience, and more rigorous inspection and maintenance protocols. 

 

However, BIS codes are not automatically enforceable across the country. For them to be legally binding, individual states must issue notifications or amend their respective Lift Acts. While early adoption by 15 states and Jammu & Kashmir is a promising development, several key states are yet to make the switch.

 

“The safety code should be implemented by all the states,” Gossain said in an interview to Business Standard. The anticipated cost increase due to compliance with the new code is relatively low and manageable for customers.

 

“There is a concern… but it would be minimal. The price increase would be between 2–5 per cent on average for the top five established players. The customers can bear this,” he stated.

 

The top five players - KONE, Otis, Schindler, Johnson Lifts, and TK Elevator - together account for 85 per cent of the elevator and escalator market in India in volume terms. For local or smaller manufacturers who have not been following any standards, the price hike would be considerably higher, Gossain noted.

 

Finnish company KONE, for its part, has already begun the transition. “We saw a four per cent increase in price due to this upgrade,” he said, referring to one of its products that has already been brought up to the IS 17900 standard and is now being sold in India.

 

Gossain assured that all KONE products will be upgraded to meet the new code by the end of this year, well ahead of the 2025 deadline. He pointed out that the new code mandates three significant safety features that contribute to the cost increase.

 

These include unintended car movement protection, which prevents the elevator from moving when doors are open; ascending car overspeed protection, which addresses the risk of the car overspeeding upwards due to control failure; and refuge spaces at the pit and car top for technician safety. 

 

India’s elevator and escalator market is one of the fastest-growing globally. In 2024, between 85,000 and 90,000 units were sold, 95 per cent of which were elevators. Among elevators sold, 65 per cent were for the residential segment, 25 per cent for commercial buildings, and 10 per cent for infrastructure, such as airports and metros. In contrast, 95 per cent of escalators were sold for commercial use, with the rest used in infrastructure projects.

 

KONE currently defines 40 Indian cities — including Nagpur, Guwahati, and Shillong— as Tier-I markets. These Tier-I cities account for about 60 per cent of its sales today, while the remaining 40 per cent comes from Tier-II cities. However, this trend is expected to reverse over the next five years, with Tier-II cities contributing 60 per cent of the company’s sales as demand for elevators spreads beyond major cities, he noted.

 

Gossain said the growth outlook for India is very strong, with the market expected to expand in double digits over the next five years. This growth is driven by the rising number of high-rise residential buildings, ongoing urbanisation, and infrastructure development across metros and airports.

 

KONE has 25 per cent share in volume terms of the Indian elevator market. Also, India is the second-largest market in volume terms for KONE after China.

 

The company has a workforce of about 5,800 employees in India, of which around 2,000 are technicians. Unlike many other elevator companies that outsource maintenance operations, KONE manages post-sales maintenance entirely through its own team.

 

The company manufactures elevators at its facility in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, which is currently running at 80 per cent capacity utilisation. Gossain said there are no immediate plans to build a new factory, as capacity can be easily doubled by adding an extra shift. Approximately 90 per cent of what is produced at this facility is sold in the domestic market, with the remaining 10 per cent being exported. KONE plans to expand its exports significantly.