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The Centre´s commitment towards speeding up the pace of urbanisation by investing in smart cities, ports, metros and airports could provide immense growth to the elevator segment, says SEBI JOSEPH. According to a United Nations report, 54 per cent of the world´s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 66 per cent by 2050. Projections show that urbanisation, combined with overall growth of the world´s population, could add another 2.5 billion people to urban populations by 2050, with close to 90 per cent of the increase concentrated in Asia and Africa. India, China and Nigeria will account for 37 per cent of the projected growth of the world´s urban population between 2014 and 2050. By 2050, India is projected to add 404 million urban dwellers. Good going As urbanisation drives the increased need for housing, the elevator industry plays an important role in supporting that growth. The Indian Government´s Smart City initiative will fuel the need for smart and efficient technologies such as´green´ elevators supported by Otis´ flagship Gen2� technology to aid urban growth. As of August 2016, the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) has 3.86 billion sq ft of registered real estate under development as green constructions. This constitutes over 3,774 buildings. This commitment toward speeding up the pace of urbanisation by investing in Smart Cities, ports, metros and airports could provide immense growth to the elevator segment. We believe the´Make in India´ initiative will enable a deeper focus on what the Indian customer and building segment is looking for. Otis recognises the opportunity India presents and recently tripled the size of its Bengaluru factory. The expanded facility includes a state-of-the-art elevator test tower that has the ability to test up to five elevators at a time. The Bengaluru factory is also gearing up to offer even higher speed elevators on Otis´ global flagship technology platform - the Gen2. Additionally, an escalator line is being developed at the Otis India factory. The R&D centre in India has also significantly expanded its engineering capacity in recent years. Upbeat Some recent projects that selected Otis elevators and escalators over the past few years reflect the direction in which India is growing. In June 2016, an announcement was made stating that Otis India will provide state-of-the-art, high-speed elevators to the Indiabulls BLU project in Worli, Mumbai. Three of the four towers in the project will be served by 37 Otis elevators, including 18 SkyRise elevators, with speeds of 4 m per second. These towers will soar above the 200-m mark and feature Otis´ CompassPlus destination dispatch technology. In February 2016, Mantri Developers entered into a strategic partnership with Otis. The deal involves supply of over 1,000 units for various residential, commercial, retail and villa projects. This strategic engagement is for the next few years. Otis has won the elevator contract to install 10 escalators and 49 elevators (some of which will be 6 m per second) in Kohinoor Square, Mumbai. The building has been certified by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) as India´s tallest commercial tower at 52 stories (666-ft-tall). The elevators will include Compass Destination Management systems and EMS Panorama. About the author: Sebi Joseph is President, Otis India, and has been with the company since 1987. He is responsible for the overall leadership and strategy for Otis India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.