Brilliant Elevators

Your author shares insights into his career in the VT sector.

by Gautam Chattopadhyay

I am a graduate mechanical engineer with 29 years of industry experience. I subsequently completed a Master of Business Administration in the U.S. I started my career at an automotive component manufacturing company. My first interaction with a vertical-transportation (VT) company was with KONE Elevator India for about eight years. I was in charge of large projects, managing the Eastern region. After spending eight years in VT, I moved to other industries, including industrial infrastructure and railways. Then, I came back to elevators in 2011-2012. 

Inherent Potential

I was assisting Stone India, a railway equipment company, in diversifying their business, as traditionally they did almost 100% of their business with Indian Railways. During that time, metro business started to pick up: A lot of metros were coming to different cities, apart from Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi. Stone India was also looking at the platform side of things, and we found two interesting products: one was a platform screen door and the second was lifts and escalators. Since I had previous experience in this field, we thought it would be easy for us to foray into that. 

The technical requirement for lifts and escalators in the commercial market and in the metro rail market is different, and it’s huge. I found there were not many people in that segment. We searched for someone who was interested in entering this space in India, and I found BLT, which is a fairly large company in China. At that point in time, they were also looking to enter the Indian market.

Established Brand 

Imported lifts from BLT are as good as any brand. Among the projects done by BLT globally, the Housing Development Board of the Singapore government is a prime example: BLT provided 2,500 lifts in HDB Singapore. Heathrow Airport Terminal 2 is another landmark project. For the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, there were two stadiums where BLT’s VT equipment was installed, then there is the Seoul Metro, the Fiji airport and the Cairo Airport Terminal.

Two companies operate for BLT in India, one which I have taken over as an operating head since 2016. This company was registered in 2014 as a wholly owned subsidiary. Brilliant Elevator India Company Pvt. Ltd. takes care of the business. We have partnered with a local company that manages the manufacturing aspect of lifts and escalators in India. I am on the board of that company. 

Infrastructure Segment

I found the infrastructure segment was easier to enter, as we did not have any reference installation during that time in India. We were fortunate to provide the first order in Lucknow Metro, where we completed the project with 94 escalators, out of which 90 escalators have been handed over since 2019, and everything is under our control. It is an absolutely fantastic project, entirely under maintenance contract. We have a full-fledged team of engineers taking care of it. 

We signed two contracts with Mumbai Metro Rail Corp. Ltd. in 2019 for Mumbai Metro Underground Line 3. It is under execution, so we are poised to deliver 176 heavy-duty escalators and approximately 86 heavy-duty gearless machine-room-less (MRL) lifts. This is going to be a landmark project for BLT in India because it is of fairly large volume and one of the biggest projects for BLT outside mainland China. We are all very focused on completing this project. 

Commercial Market

In between, we tried to enter the commercial market, as well. Wherever we have found it suitable, we have participated. For instance, there are some projects in Mohali where we have provided elevators up to 2.5 m/s speed with about 33 stops; these are good quality elevators comparable to any top brands available in India. The entire building’s lifts at Delhi Police Headquarters, opposite the Chief Election Commission office, are from BLT. Under the Telangana government at Hyderabad, we have given a good number of lifts under the 2-BHK housing schemes.

Growth Strategy

Since we have a good reference of infrastructure projects, the current strategy is to focus on propagating in that area in a more intense way. At the same time, we are now channeling our marketing networks into the commercial segment, especially in Northern India.  

I am not open to spreading my wings very fast; we will move slow and steady. We have a definite plan to realize our own manufacturing facility in due time. We will be extremely careful and target only specific projects where multiple units are required in a single location. 

Market Scope

Nobody can deny that India is the second-largest market after China for VT, and the numbers are going to increase. The Eastern region is experiencing a sea change now, and many high rises are coming up. For the projects where we have participated and our materials have been delivered, we take complete responsibility in terms of installation, spare parts, maintenance, regular services, etc. 

The kind of investment happening in the Indian infrastructure segment is poised to continue for the next 15 years. Things are quite bright, and we want to be in that space on our own terms. We have a major interest in the railways: It gave us our first success with BLT in India. We have almost 13-14 projects at different stages of execution right now. Indian Railways has a requirement of around 4,000 escalators coming up in the next 10 years. We will be a part of the infrastructure sector, as it’s expected to be a prominent area in the future. 

Gautam Chattopadhyay, director – Marketing, Brilliant Elevator India Co. Pvt. Ltd., and director, BLT-Brilliant Lifts & Escalators Pvt. Ltd., has earned a master’s degree and achieved highly visible senior management accountabilities eager to bring significant increase in growth, profitability, efficiencies and shareholder value across industrial sectors. He is a performance-driven, entrepreneurial professional with 29 years of continuous advancement and expertise in domestic and international business, sales and marketing and technical application/product engineering at the national, international and corporate level for both mid-sized and established organizations.

BLT-Brilliant considers itself a pioneer among global brands for elevators and escalators, providing world-renowned building and infrastructure projects with VT solutions and services. It is committed to making the intelligent transportation of every building more secure, comfortable and convenient and to keep reaching science and technology benchmarks.

BLT-Brilliant started its Indian journey in 2014 as wholly owned subsidiary of Yuanda Intellectual Industry Group Co Ltd., operating across world. The company aims to provide the Indian and sub-continent market with top-level professional, high-quality, fast and convenient VT solutions in line with its global practice and service network.

BLT has its Indian operational headquarters in Kolkata and branch offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow and Hyderabad. BLT has set up more than 220 sales service branches both at home and abroad, six wholly owned subsidiaries and one joint-stock subsidiary in Germany, Australia, Singapore, Mongolia, Peru, India and Morocco, building a worldwide sales service network and providing a lifelong after-sales experience. BLT has set up a modern R&D center, a 177-m-high elevator test tower with 11 test shafts and has made a 10 m/s high-speed elevator test feasible.