As India’s cities grow taller, denser, and more complex, the role of safe, sustainable, and intelligent vertical mobility has never been more critical. In this exclusive interview, Sanjay Jadhav, Editor, Machine Edge Global, speaks with Amit Gossain, Managing Director, KONE India, to explore how the company is positioning itself for growth in one of its most strategic global markets. From KONE’s long-term vision for India and its Rise 2025–2030 strategy to advancements in safety, digitalization, modernization, and sustainability, Gossain shares insights into how KONE is shaping the future of urban mobility while setting new benchmarks for reliability, energy efficiency, and passenger safety in the Indian built environment.
With the company’s expanding footprint, what is the vision for KONE India’s growth and leadership in 2026 and beyond?
India continues to be one of KONE’s most strategically important and high potential markets globally. As one of the world’s largest elevator markets, India offers a significant opportunity to shape the future of urban mobility at scale.
Building on this momentum, KONE announced its Rise 2025–2030 strategy in 2024. The ambition is clear: to be the number one choice for customers and employees, while driving innovation, sustainability, profitable growth, and operational excellence.
Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, KONE India’s focus is on building a stronger and more agile organization that stays close to customers and local markets. The company is expanding its footprint and capabilities, particularly across Tier II and emerging cities, where rapid urbanization, infrastructure development, and housing demand are creating sustained growth opportunities.
Digitalization and modernization will play a central role in this journey. Digital connectivity and data led services are transforming operations by enabling predictive maintenance, faster response times, improved safety, and higher equipment uptime. At the same time, modernization presents a significant opportunity in India, given the large installed base of ageing elevators and escalators and the growing demand for energy efficient, accessible, and digitally enabled solutions.
Residential housing will remain a key growth driver. KONE is investing in fit for purpose solutions and strengthening its service network to better meet customer needs, while continuing to improve speed, quality, and efficiency in delivery. Sustainability runs across all priorities, ensuring KONE India’s growth is responsible, resilient, and aligned with the future of urban development.
Safety has always been a core pillar for KONE. How is the company strengthening safety standards across elevators and escalators in India?
Safety is non-negotiable at KONE. In India, the company is strengthening safety standards across the entire lifecycle, from design and manufacturing to installation, maintenance, and modernization.
Every KONE solution is engineered with passenger safety at its core, supported by rigorous risk assessments, strict quality controls, and regular safety audits. KONE also takes firm positions on critical safety issues, including its clear decision not to offer collapsible gates, reinforcing its commitment to the highest safety standards.
Digitalization plays an important role in strengthening safety. Through KONE 24*7 Connected Services, powered by cloud connectivity and AI driven analytics, maintenance is shifting from reactive to predictive. Potential issues are identified early, often before they are visible, allowing teams to intervene proactively and improve passenger safety.
By combining strong engineering, strict safety governance, and intelligent digital solutions, KONE continues to build a safer and more reliable vertical mobility ecosystem for India.
Sustainability is becoming increasingly important in the built environment. How is KONE integrating energy efficient solutions into its elevators and escalators?
Sustainability is no longer optional. It is a clear business and environmental priority for the built environment. At KONE, energy efficiency is built into the design of elevators and escalators so that sustainability delivers real and measurable value for customers.
KONE solutions incorporate technologies such as regenerative drives that capture and reuse energy, high efficiency LED lighting, and intelligent standby modes that reduce power consumption and emissions across the equipment lifecycle. As a result, most KONE elevator models carry the highest A class energy efficiency rating under ISO 25745, while several escalator and autowalk models achieve the top A +++ rating.
Beyond operational efficiency, KONE is addressing emissions where the greatest impact lies, across product materials and lifetime energy use. The company is targeting a 40 percent reduction in product related emissions compared to a defined baseline, helping customers decarbonize buildings at scale.
With rapid urban development, safety expectations are evolving. How is KONE preparing for future safety challenges in high rise and complex infrastructure projects?
As cities grow taller and more complex, safety expectations are becoming more demanding. KONE is addressing these challenges through advanced engineering, digital technologies, and a strong safety culture across its operations.
Elevator and people flow solutions are designed specifically for high rise and complex infrastructure projects, ensuring safe and reliable movement even in high density environments. Through early-stage people flow planning and consulting, KONE works closely with architects and developers to model traffic patterns, reduce congestion, and enhance safety from the outset.
Connected elevators and escalators enable continuous monitoring, remote diagnostics, and predictive maintenance. This allows potential risks to be identified and addressed before they affect passengers, which is particularly important in high usage buildings.
Together with strict compliance with local and international standards, continuous employee training, and close collaboration with customers and partners, these measures ensure KONE solutions remain safe and future ready.
What are some of the latest technologies or design advancements KONE has introduced to enhance passenger safety?
Passenger safety is where engineering and design come together at KONE. A key advancement is the introduction of the SMART elevator portfolio, including KONE I MonoSpace SMART, KONE I MiniSpace SMART, and KONE A MonoSpace SMART. These are the first elevators in the industry to be fully compliant with IS 17900 safety standards.
At the core of these solutions is PESSRAL technology, which significantly improves the intelligence and reliability of elevator safety systems. Dual channel safety controllers ensure safe redundancy, automatically shifting to a safe mode if any anomaly is detected.
Safety is further strengthened through design features such as tamper proof safety modules, high strength door systems, and sensitive light curtains that protect passengers during entry and exit. Together, these advancements raise the benchmark for elevator safety in the Indian market.
What differentiates KONE’s approach when it comes to safety, service reliability, and lifecycle management?
What sets KONE apart is its long term and holistic approach to vertical mobility. Safety, service reliability, and lifecycle management are treated as a single integrated commitment rather than separate elements.
With over 40 years of manufacturing presence in India, combined with strong global innovation capabilities and more than 3,000 patents worldwide, KONE brings together deep local expertise and advanced engineering. The focus goes beyond equipment delivery to creating reliable and seamless mobility experiences.
Digital solutions such as 24*7 Connected Services and E-Link enable predictive maintenance, higher uptime, and better transparency across the lifecycle of equipment. Strong lifecycle management helps extend equipment life, reduce operational risk, and improve long term cost efficiency and sustainability.
Ultimately, KONE’s differentiation lies in its customer centric approach, proactive service model, and commitment to delivering safe and future ready mobility solutions that evolve with buildings and the people who use them.