INDIA IS BUILDING HIGHER. CAN SAFETY KEEP UP?

India’s urban skyline is changing faster than ever. Mumbai sits at the centre of this vertical surge, with nearly 300 buildings above 150 metres either completed or under development, according to Council on Vertical Urbanism data. Hyderabad and Gurugram are seeing a similar rise in tall-building construction, while Delhi-NCR now has around 5,200 high-rise buildings. The reasons are familiar. Land is scarce in major urban markets, housing demand continues to push development upward and commercial growth is creating demand for taller, more intensive buildings. The wider infrastructure push is adding to that momentum, driving demand across architecture, elevators, materials, machinery and building services. But as the skyline rises, one question becomes harder to ignore: are India’s safety systems keeping pace?

A New Safety Rulebook
That question gained fresh urgency in 2026 with the National Building Construction Standards, or NBCS 2026. The Bureau of Indian Standards notified SP 7:2026 on April 30, replacing the 2016 framework. The new standards update provisions covering structural safety, fire and life safety and building services, while allowing greater flexibility in certain circumstances through performance based design. Performance-based design does not mean that buildings can simply bypass prescribed safety requirements. Alternative approaches still require technical validation and approval from the relevant state or local authority. One of the most significant changes is the definition of a high-rise building. The threshold has moved to 24 metres, from 15 metres under the 2016 framework. Buildings between 15 and 24 metres may therefore no longer automatically fall within the national high-rise category. However, that does not mean they are exempt from fire safety requirements. State building bye-laws and local fire regulations will determine the practical requirements. The distinction matters. A national standard can establish technical direction, but a building becomes safe through approvals, construction quality, inspections, maintenance and enforcement.

When Compliance Falls Short
Recent fires show why that final link matters. On April 29, a fire broke out in an upper-floor flat at Gaur Green Avenue in Ghaziabad’s Indirapuram and spread across the ninth to eleventh floors, gutting around eight flats. More than 17 fire tenders were deployed and no deaths were reported. But the incident came against a wider backdrop of compliance concerns. A 2022 Gurugram safety audit found that 30% of high-rise buildings lacked fire-safety NOCs, while only 60% had mandatory equipment and measures functioning as required. Other incidents have been more devastating. The Flourish Stay fire in South Delhi’s Malviya Nagar killed 21 people. The property, licensed for six rooms, was operating 26, while investigators found no fire NOC and serious escape-route failures. In Rajkot, the 2024 TRP Game Zone fire killed at least 27 people, including children, at a facility that lacked the required fire clearance. Together, these incidents expose the gap between compliance on paper and readiness in practice.

Safety Begins Before Construction
For tall buildings, fire safety extends far beyond extinguishers and staircases. Elevators are an increasingly important part of the equation. As buildings grow taller, developers have to think beyond conventional passenger lifts to goods lifts, car elevators and fire evacuation lifts. The right system depends on the building itself: its height, occupancy, number of floors, floor-to-floor height, peak traffic, parking levels and service requirements. Capacity and speed are only starting points. Maintenance, energy consumption, spare-parts availability, technical support and long-term reliability matter just as much. Fire evacuation lifts, protected lift lobbies, emergency operation and communication systems also need to be considered during the design stage rather than added later. Maharashtra’s development regulations contain provisions for fire lifts and special requirements for high-rise buildings, including mandatory fire evacuation lifts.

What Happens Behind the Walls
There is another layer of safety that occupants rarely think about: the materials inside the building. Wall coatings and electrical systems can influence how a building behaves during a fire. Zydex Industries has highlighted silicate mineral paints as a fire-resistant alternative to conventional polymer-based coatings. The company says its mineral paints are Class 1 certified for fire resistance and are designed not to contribute fuel to a fire. Electrical safety is equally important as homes become more appliance-intensive and connected. RCCBs, MCBs, isolators, fire resistant materials and reliable electrical systems can help address risks associated with leakage, overloads and short circuits. But no individual product can solve the problem.

The Real Test Is When Things Go Wrong
NBCS 2026 provides for fire command centres capable of monitoring alarms, smoke-management and pressurisation systems, supported by dedicated communication and emergency infrastructure. Yet equipment is only as effective as the people operating it and the maintenance behind it. That may be the defining challenge of India’s vertical future. A safe high-rise is not created by a code, certificate, elevator or fire system alone. It is built through decisions made across planning, design, construction, materials, equipment, inspection and building management. India will continue to build upward. The more important measure of that progress will be whether safety, enforcement and preparedness rise with the skyline