German multinational ThyssenKrupp today inaugurated a new multi-purpose facility for the elevator industry which will include manufacturing of elevators, facilities for training and will also act as a distribution centre.

The facility is located at Chakan near Pune.

The elevator market in India is worth approximately ₹9,000 crore with 55,000 units demanded annually including a demand of 2,500 units of escalators,

This new 20,000 sq m facility at an investment of ₹360 crore, will have the capacity to manufacture 6,000 elevator units with plans to increase to 10,000 units over the next two years.

When asked about the number and type of jobs that the company aims to create in India, Ravi Kripalani, CEO, Thyssenkrupp India said: “We have to look at those skills in India which are relevant to Thyssenkrupp globally.

“We also have to look at how much vendors in India can supply the sourcing that the company needs, and hence, a lot of indirect employment will be created.

“This facility will create direct employment for around 350 people which will increase once we increase the capacity.

“There are lots of projects that we have where a lot of indirect employment will be generated."

Bharat Vishnani, MD of the company's Elevator Business, said: “the output from this facility will be for the domestic market but we will cater to small volumes for Nepal and Bangladesh."

Market share

The elevator business is one of the most profitable and fastest growing verticals for the company where it commands a market share of 6.5-7 per cent and has been witnessing a growth of 10 per cent.

Responding on the doubts about whether the enforcement of the RERA Act could affect the company's plans to increase its scale of production, on account of a possible slowdown in real estate projects, Vishnani said: “RERA will bring about market consolidation. There may be a turbulent period for six months but after that the market will pick up. With GST coming, the economic parameters look good and the future outlook looks positive.”

Meanwhile, Thyssenkrupp's proposed acquisition of certain assets from Tata Steel has met stiff resistance from German labour unions and investors.

Oliver Burkhard, Member of the executive board and Chief Human Resource Officer, told BusinessLine that the company was still in talks, and hence, the impact on jobs due to the same could not be stated.

However, he did say that these developments will not impact the company's elevator business.

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