In Memoriam: Surendra Mohan Hajela

Surendra Mohan Hajela, a highly regarded vertical-transportation (VT) industry veteran in India, passed away on June 23 at age 85. Known by those in the VT industry as “Hajelaji” or “Hajela Sir,” Hajela launched companies including Lift Systems India Pvt. Ltd. and Solus Software & Systems India Pvt. Ltd. He is credited with introducing and growing hydraulic elevator systems in India and being instrumental in the collaboration between Bharat Bijlee and Schindler. “He dealt with all the leading VT companies and was considered instrumental in getting brands like Fermator and GMV to India decades ago,” former business partner Bhagwatilal Jain says. Hajela enjoyed quite an active life until 2016-2017, when he suffered a stroke and retired to Pune, India. ELEVATOR WORLD India, which profiles Hajela in its 3^rd Quarter 2022 issue, says, “He left his footprints on the elevator industry for eternity.”