• Enhancing safety
• Adopt best in class practices 
• Impart knowledge to individuals as well as installation companies
• Help Indian companies become competitive 
• To minimize imports 
• To enhance export business 
• Establish relationships with the Lift Associations around the world 
• Take adequate precautions to guard the businesses against counterfeit components
• Promote international alliances that can help Indian companies grow 
• Get together and form a society or a community that promote a friendly exchange of ideas

And, our strength is our associations, so we are growing with each passing day as more and more companies are joining our vision. All top elevator and escalator industry stalwarts are already part of EECMAI. We can proudly confirm that EECMAI is the industry’s only all-India association, supported by the ministry of corporate affairs. The name association of India proves how the organization represents the elevator and escalator  industry in the country.

The leading exporters of elevators include Spain, Germany, Netherlands, and Italy, while Slovakia, Spain, and the Czech Republic lead the escalator market exports. India amounts to 0.2 percent of the total global export of elevators and a minute 0.1 percent of global exports of escalators of the total trade. But, it accounts for 2 to 4 percent of the total imports of elevators and escalators. And, this is the gap that creates a lot of opportunities for the industry.

The export of elevator and escalators components happens through two HS codes, 843131 and 843139. But primarily to the HS code 3131, the total export was around 4.8 million dollars, and through the HS code 843139, it was about 8.4 million dollars. China continues to be the leading supplier of components through 843131, followed by Italy, Spain, Germany and UK. India accounts for 0.2 percentage of total exports through 3131 and 1.2 of the percentage the exports through 843139. This shows that we have a good potential in terms of tapping the global market because we are now accounting for a minor percentage, and we have immense potential to tap the international markets.

The universal truth is that India continues to be an importer of elevator and escalator components. India accounted for 2 percent of the total inputs through 843131 and 843139.

The main intention of our detailed analysis of trade databases is to give a flavor of the magnitude rather than giving you precise numbers. So in 2019, the total imports observed through all the 4 HS codes that we tracked for the elevator industry was around 343 million dollars. This has seen a marginal difference from the 2018 numbers of 343 million dollars. The number includes all the elevators, escalators, moving walkways and the components related to them. During 2019 around 200 million dollars’ worth of elevator and escalators components were imported to India, with China accounting for 73 percent of the supply. Some of the other countries include Spain and Italy that showed their dominance.

Analyzing based on the product decryption, there are six major categories, clubbed with other components such as bearing couplers and counterweights. Various other products accounted for a maximum of 33 percent, followed by the ropes and shaft equipment which accounted for 22 percent of the total imports of the 200 million dollars in 2019.

Going onto the export side of the business in India, it is at its low of about 59 million dollars compared to the imports. But, it has seen an increase from 2018, where the total exports of E&E components accounted for 44 million dollars. In 2019 similar analyses of the exports of elevator and escalator components showed that we export around 22 million dollars worth of components to major destinations, including Canada, Netherlands, Qatar, United Kingdom, and Brazil.

To conclude, there is still immense potential for Indian manufacturers to tap the global demand gap as the total export of the elevators and escalator components is around 14 billion dollars. Indian can surely tap a significant portion of it – contributing greatly to the growth of the E&E industry.

According to the RBI, in the next financial year of 2021-22, India should be slightly above the figures of 1920. Post this break-even, the country can look forward to resuming its growth path, which has an average of somewhere between 5.5 to 6 or 7 percent in the long term. So, looking at the broader scenario, our exports have to catch up as they are still hovering at around the 300 billion mark.

The building and construction sector plays a critical role, employing around 40 million people. Unfortunately, the world is still struggling to cope with the Pandemic aftershocks as trade has been impacted gravely by the subsequent lockdowns. But, 2021 has witnessed the green days in the building and construction sector, especially residential housing, as they move towards a joyous revival.

In this scenario, it’s essential to consider the government initiatives that push the demand for residential housing. The Reserve Bank has kept the interest rate at 4 percent, promoting investments.

The Finance Minister has recently announced a massive budget for infrastructure and smart cities. The focus is on the construction of public properties, including roads, airports, metros and railways. Hence, this is excellent news for the escalator industry, mainly because the demand will now shoot up. The market has been strangled at a few thousand escalators a year, but I think this spending on the infrastructure, mainly urban infrastructure, will change the entire game. It is time that the E&E of India will see its revival with increasing growth and potential technology advancements that abide by international standards.

The Indian elevator market, as per the MCT estimates, mounted up to around 78000 units in 2019-20. But, there are some questions regarding these numbers. For example, does this number include the refurbishments? Does it include the unorganized small sectors and towns?
Many smaller players out there in the market are not necessarily registered and might not be under the radar. Yes, that’s possible; there is an estimate that the unorganized sector probably accounts for about 10 to 15 percent of this. Some industry experts state it to be higher. There are more players out there; in fact, some sources quoted that there are 700 lift contractors in Maharashtra alone. So, in general, the country has surely moved fairly fast, matching up to the pace of the industrial revolution.
India has witnessed a huge trend towards taller buildings. Even though the government’s affordable housing schemes have slowed down the craze a bit, the numbers are still green.

During the last couple of years, the E&E industry has seen a slight dip, but we believe that the industry will surely pick up going forward.

The impact of the COVID-19 lockdown has slowed slow down the construction plans. In fact, in the worst-case scenario, the estimation goes up to a sad 25 percent dip. But, optimistically, I predict that in the next 4-5 years, we could see 13 to 14 percent growth. I think we will see a bounce back in 21-22, but after that, we might see in line with what new GDP product projections are more like a 7 to 8 percent beyond 2022. The country might expect to jump back to 9-10 percent by about 2024-25, not earlier than that.

And, as the country bounces back, so will the elevator and escalator industry!

Compliance is the most crucial activity that this industry must focus on. It’s not just the compliance to the standards and codes by the manufacturers but also the competency of the people involved in installing and maintaining the elevators and escalators. User awareness also plays a very critical part in this.

From 2019 in the overall scheme of things, the country with the highest number of exports was China at 24 percent, followed by countries from the European Union. India’s total contribution in this overall export is less than 0.3 percent, and that is a staggeringly low figure. Comparing it against what India is importing in terms of elevator and escalator components, we import quite a bit, and the most prominent country we import from is China. China exports to many other countries, but their exports go up to 5 percent in India alone. Hence, the Indian companies need to move quickly, using up and promptly tapping on the underlying global opportunities today.

India has large-scale manufacturing facilities, but our quality standards are not yet up to the global expectations. So, for Indian manufacturers to be successful, matching up the international quality standards and the globally competitive price will be one of the critical requirements they need to chase. In addition, our products are still at the lower end of the commodity segment. So, we need to improve the performance of our components, for which the manufacturing processes must also scale up accordingly.

More effective production will seek upgrades to catch up and lead global standards.
So here lies our opportunity!

In the global E&E exports worth $20 billion, the Indian share is about 0.05 percent. Within the market that exceeds more than 75000 units per year, we are the second-largest one in the world. So there lies a golden opportunity for the elevator and escalator industry to move towards self-reliance with the quality levels that meet the expected global standards.

EECMAI is looking to facilitate this, supporting opportunities where domestic manufacturers can expand into the global market and educate on global quality requirements. This would help expand the market for local manufacturers, who would leverage the larger market size to make their products more competitive. In this way, Indian manufacturers can compete with the cheaper imports that come into the country.

EECMAI thrives on this vision of making India the preferred hub for the global elevator and escalator industry. And this vision is to be fulfilled with our mission to support the industry’s growth by promoting continuous improvement of safety and quality standards, community education, and networking with domestic and international organizations.