Kone Elevator India has started work on a larger factory which will double its production capacity.

The new factory on about 18 acres is to be commissioned in 2015 at Pillaipakkam, an industrial hub to the west of Chennai.

The existing facility will be shifted to the new unit in stages. The new factory will facilitate exports of full elevator kits from the Chennai factory which now focuses on the domestic market except for some component exports, according to Neeraj Sharma, Managing Director, Kone India, a subsidiary of Kone, Finland.

While declining to share specific investment and production figures, Sharma said the Indian elevator industry is estimated at 40,000 units annually. Kone is among the top players with a 20 per cent market share.

The facility will generate jobs and expand the vendor base which will bring in more investments, he said. Kone now employs 3,000 people in India.

Much potential in India

India is the second largest elevator market after China, which is ten times larger. More elevator manufacturers are looking at setting up factories in India, including international majors Mitsubishi, Fujitech, Thiessen and Schindler.

Component manufacturers such as Wittur of Austria, which makes elevator doors, and Savera of China, a guiderail manufacturer, are also likely to come to India, he said.

Sharma was talking to mediapersons on the occasion of Kone’s People Flow Day, an annual global exercise by Kone to get feedback from elevator users to improve design and function.

The theme for this year is design and for next year safety, Sharma said.

> balaji.ar@thehindu.co.in

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