As Indian cities expand vertically and grow denser, urban mobility is being redefined beyond roads, railways, and surface transport. Manish Mehan, CEO and Managing Director of TK Elevator India, explores how vertical transportation is emerging as a critical layer of urban infrastructure. In this interview with Asma Rafat, Senior Correspondent, Realty+, Manish explains how smart elevators, destination control systems, and data-driven predictive maintenance are improving efficiency, reliability, and user experience in high-rise environments. Mehan also discusses energy-efficient technologies, sustainability goals, and how TK Elevator’s commitment to Make in India aligns with global innovation, shaping safer, smarter, and more connected Indian cities for the future.
Indian cities are growing taller and denser. How is this vertical growth changing the way urban planners and developers think about mobility beyond roads and rail?
Manish Mehan: The vertical growth of Indian cities is fundamentally reshaping how mobility is planned and delivered. As cities become taller and denser, mobility is no longer limited to roads and rail networks alone, it now includes how efficiently people move within buildings and across multiple urban layers. Urban planners and developers are increasingly viewing buildings as extensions of the city’s mobility ecosystem, where vertical transportation plays a role as critical as horizontal transit, especially in high-rise residential towers, commercial hubs, metros, airports, and mixed-use developments.
At TK Elevator, we see this shift reflected in the growing demand for smart, digitally enabled elevator and escalator systems that can handle high passenger volumes, peak-hour surges, and seamless integration with public transport hubs. Solutions such as destination control systems, predictive maintenance through MAX, and high-capacity elevator configurations help reduce waiting times, improve traffic flow, and enhance reliability in dense urban environments.
Predictive maintenance and digital monitoring are reshaping how buildings operate. How is data changing the way vertical mobility systems are maintained and experienced in India’s commercial and residential spaces?
Manish Mehan: At TK Elevator, data is fundamentally changing how vertical mobility systems are maintained and experienced. Through digital monitoring and predictive maintenance solutions, elevators are no longer serviced only after a fault occurs, they continuously share performance data in real time. This allows potential issues to be identified and addressed well before they impact operations, significantly reducing unplanned downtime and improving system availability.
From a user perspective, this results in elevators that are consistently reliable, with fewer service disruptions and a smoother overall travel experience. For building owners and facility managers, data delivers clear visibility into system performance, usage patterns and energy consumption, enabling more proactive maintenance planning, improved cost efficiency and longer asset life. Across commercial and residential developments in India, this shift toward data-driven maintenance is playing a key role in creating safer, more efficient and future-ready buildings.
TK Elevator often speaks about technology-led gains such as reducing downtime by nearly 50 percent and increasing passenger handling capacity by up to 30 percent. What specific innovations are driving these improvements, and why do they matter for everyday urban users?
Manish Mehan: In TK Elevator, when we talk about technology-led gains like reducing downtime by up to 50% and increasing passenger handling capacity by up to 30%, it’s not just marketing speak, these improvements are the result of specific, purpose-built innovations that directly enhance daily urban life.
At the heart of our performance improvements are digital and smart systems that transform how elevators operate and are serviced. Our MAX platform is a cloud-based predictive maintenance and digital monitoring solution that continuously collects real-time performance data from elevators — everything from door cycles to motor behaviour — and analyses it using machine learning. This means maintenance needs can be identified before failures occur, allowing technicians to intervene proactively. The outcome: significantly fewer unexpected breakdowns and service disruptions, leading to roughly 50% less downtime compared to traditional reactive maintenance approaches. This reliability is crucial in high-density Indian cities where elevator availability impacts productivity and residential convenience every day.
On the traffic management side, our AGILE Destination Selection Control (DSC) technology optimises how passenger traffic flows through elevator systems. Instead of elevators responding to calls one at a time, AGILE groups passengers going to common floors and assigns them to the most efficient car. In high-rise buildings — especially mixed-use towers in cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru where peak demand surges are common, this speeds up journeys and reduces congestion in lobbies. This intelligent routing can increase passenger handling capacity by up to 30% and shorten travel and waiting times, a tangible benefit for daily users.
We also deploy TWIN systems in select projects, where two independent elevator cars operate in one shaft, effectively doubling service capacity without expanding the building’s footprint an innovation that matters as Indian high-rises increasingly prioritise usable space and move people more efficiently within limited cores.
These innovations matter for everyday urban users because they translate into fewer waits, fewer disruptions, smoother peak-hour flows, and greater predictability in vertical travel — factors that collectively improve quality of life and help buildings perform as true pieces of urban infrastructure rather than just mechanical systems.
As cities move toward integrated mobility ecosystems, how realistic is the idea of seamless movement between public transit, buildings, and urban infrastructure, and what role can vertical mobility play in making that integration work?
Manish Mehan: Seamless movement between public transit, buildings and urban infrastructure is not only realistic in India but also becoming essential as cities grow denser and more transit oriented. With metro networks expanding rapidly in these cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Pune developing large multimodal hubs the challenge has moved beyond horizontal travel. Today, the real complexity lies in managing smooth vertical transitions between platforms, concourses, offices, retail zones and residential towers. This is where vertical mobility becomes the critical connective tissue of the urban ecosystem.
Smart elevators, escalators and moving walks play a decisive role in enabling this integration. Using technologies such as destination control, real-time traffic management and digital monitoring, vertical mobility systems can align their performance with peak transit flows morning metro rush hours, airport arrival waves or event-driven surges, rather than operating in isolation. In large public hubs, airports and mixed-use developments across India, this results in shorter transfer times, reduced crowding and significantly improved accessibility for elderly users, people with disabilities and families. As India continues to invest in smart cities, transit-oriented development and high-rise urban cores, vertical mobility will increasingly be planned as an integral part of the city’s mobility network just as essential as roads and rail in enabling truly integrated, people-centric urban movement.
Sustainability is now central to infrastructure decisions. How are smart elevators and escalators contributing to energy efficiency, safety, and long-term sustainability goals in high-density Indian cities?
Manish Mehan: Sustainability has become a core consideration in urban infrastructure, and at TK Elevator India, smart elevators and escalators are designed to directly support energy efficiency, safety and long-term sustainability in high-density cities. Modern TKE systems are equipped with regenerative drives that recover energy during braking and downward travel and feed it back into the building’s power network. Combined with LED lighting, sleep modes and intelligent group control, these technologies can reduce energy consumption by up to 30% or more compared to conventional systems.
TKE’s smart escalators further enhance efficiency through sensor-based operation that adjusts speed or enters standby mode during periods of low footfall, significantly cutting electricity usage while reducing mechanical wear. In large public infrastructure projects across India, including metro systems and transit hubs, TKE’s energy-efficient and locally manufactured solutions under the Make in India initiative are supporting sustainable urban transport development.
Beyond energy savings, digital connectivity and predictive maintenance play a critical role in sustainability. TKE’s monitoring platforms continuously analyse performance data to identify potential issues early, improving safety, minimising unplanned downtime and extending equipment life—key factors in reducing the overall environmental footprint of buildings. These capabilities also help developers and institutions meet green building standards such as LEED and IGBC. Together, smart vertical mobility solutions from TK Elevator are enabling cities to grow vertically in a way that is safer, greener and more resilient for the long term.
With India pushing strongly for domestic manufacturing, how does TK Elevator’s commitment to Make in India align with its global innovation roadmap, and what does this mean for the future of urban mobility in the country?
Manish Mehan: TK Elevator’s commitment to Make in India is closely aligned with our global innovation roadmap and reflects our long-term belief in India as a key growth and innovation hub. By localising manufacturing, engineering, and sourcing, we are able to design and produce elevator and escalator solutions that are better suited to India’s operating conditions, high traffic volumes, diverse building typologies, and varied climate, while still meeting the same global quality, safety, and sustainability standards that define our portfolio worldwide.
This localisation also enables faster innovation cycles and greater cost efficiency, helping accelerate the adoption of smart, energy-efficient vertical mobility solutions across Indian cities. With a strong domestic manufacturing base, TK Elevator can support large-scale urban infrastructure projects such as metros, airports, and high-rise developments more efficiently, while contributing to job creation and skill development. As India moves toward denser, transit-oriented, and smarter cities, this alignment between Make in India and global innovation positions vertical mobility as a critical enabler of seamless, sustainable urban movement shaping the future of how people live, work, and move within India’s rapidly evolving urban landscape.
