As India’s manufacturing sector scales under Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the spotlight is shifting from just building capacity to using energy smarter.
Motor driven systems account for a huge share of industrial electricity consumption worldwide, yet much of India’s installed base still runs on ageing, fixed speed technology.
In this conversation with CNBC-TV18, Sanjeev Arora, President – Motion Business, ABB India & Regional Hub India & MEA – IEC Low Voltage Motors, speaks about the country’s digital readiness versus its execution gap, where adoption is accelerating fastest, from data centers to metro rail, and how India is evolving from a sales and service market into a genuine global manufacturing and export hub for motors and drives.
This is an edited transcript of the interview.Q: Large motors alone account for over 10% of global electricity consumption, and India’s installed base is set to double by 2040. How much of that consumption is running on outdated, inefficient motors today, and what’s the realistic upgrade cycle look like? Has this segment stayed under the radar in India’s energy conversation, and is that changing?
A: India’s energy conversation has largely centred on generation, grid strength and renewables. As manufacturing scales under Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the focus is now shifting to efficiency.
Motor systems account for about 60% of global industrial electricity demand, yet much of India’s installed base still runs on legacy, fixed speed motors. The real opportunity lies in modernising whole systems, including efficient motors, variable speed drives, digital monitoring and predictive maintenance, through lifecycle upgrades during shutdowns and expansions, with procurement now shifting toward total cost of ownership.
At its core, this is a competitiveness story that cuts costs, eases grid pressure and supports decarbonisation.
Q: Despite 80% digital readiness in India, ahead of the global average of 67%, your report points to an “execution gap.” What’s the single biggest reason readiness isn’t converting into realised energy savings?
A: Technology isn’t the constraint here, converting digital investment into measurable outcomes is. Most companies have already connected their equipment to dashboards, but data by itself doesn’t reduce energy use. Value only comes when insights actually drive decisions.
The gap stems from integrating legacy assets with modern platforms, building workforce capability, and embedding energy management into daily operations instead of treating it as a standalone function, essentially moving from reactive to predictive operations, and from periodic to continuous optimisation.
Q: Where is ABB seeing the fastest adoption in India right now, new-economy sectors like data centers and EV manufacturing, or traditional heavy industry retrofitting old plants?
A: Momentum is strong across both, though for different reasons. Traditional sectors like cement, metals, mining, chemicals, food processing and water infrastructure are investing in modernisation to boost productivity, cut energy costs and extend asset life.
A collaboration with a global steel and power company achieved a 99.13% efficiency rate using ABB’s synchronous motor, the world’s most efficient, surpassing the previous 99.05% record, saving around $5.9 million over 25 years with a three-month payback and 61 GWh in energy savings.
Newer sectors such as data centers, battery manufacturing, electronics, EVs and semiconductors are designing efficiency in from day one given how uptime critical they are, with data center standing out as artificial intelligence (AI) workloads make efficiency a strategic differentiator rather than just an operational metric.
Q: Is India moving from being a “sales and service” market for ABB to a genuine global manufacturing and export hub for motors and drives? What would need to be true for that shift to happen at scale?
A: India has already moved beyond sales and service to become a growing manufacturing, engineering and innovation hub for ABB globally, backed by strong engineering talent, policy support and a fast-growing domestic market.
A recent investment of about $75 million strengthens ABB’s manufacturing and R&D footprint in India, alongside the launch of India’s first locally manufactured IE5 induction motor range.
As global industries look for resilient supply chains, India is well positioned to become a bigger manufacturing and export base, increasingly living up to “Designed in India, Made in India and Delivered to the World.”
Q: With India moving from PAT to the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, how does that shift change the buying conversation for industrial customers?
A: This shift is a natural progression in India’s energy transition. Efficiency investments were once judged mainly on electricity cost savings and payback. Now the conversation is broader, spanning competitiveness, carbon performance, regulatory preparedness, ESG commitments and access to sustainable finance.
The Carbon Credit Trading Scheme strengthens market signals for decarbonisation, encouraging faster investment in technologies that boost both productivity and sustainability. Scaling this up will need alignment across policymakers, financial institutions and industry.
In India, ABB has saved around 20 TWh of electric energy annually through energy efficient motors and drives installed over the last 12 years, nearly half of Delhi’s annual electricity consumption.
Q: From ABB India’s order book, how much demand growth is directly attributable to this energy productivity push vs general industrial capex growth? Can you size the rail and metro opportunity for the Motion business, and how many years of order-pipeline visibility does that give you?(Compliance note: ABB India does not disclose business specific order book composition or forward-looking revenue projections.)
A: India’s growth stems from converging megatrends, including manufacturing expansion, electrification, grid modernisation, urban infrastructure, digitalisation and the clean energy transition, reflected in ABB India’s order backlog of ₹11,094 crore at the end of Q1 CY2026.
On rail and metro: Q1 CY2026 Motion orders stood at ₹1,525 crore, up 22% year on year, with the backlog up 20% to ₹4,742 crore, driven by railways and metals and mining. Components and standard drives form a short-cycle business, while propulsion equipment and control systems offer a longer runway.
India has over 1,000 km of operational metro routes, 600 km under construction and 300 km approved, nearly doubling the network, with over 1,000 km more proposed. Alongside this, India is rolling out around 600 Vande Bharat trains by 2030 and expanding the Namo Bharat and RRTS network.
The strongest opportunities lie in traction motors, traction converters, train control systems, auxiliary converters, battery chargers, HVAC drives and service contracts.
Recent wins include a Titagarh Rail Systems deal for 25kV propulsion systems and TCMS software across 240 Mumbai Metro coaches, upgradeable to driverless GoA4, and HVAC drives for Kolkata Metro, with ABB supporting most of India’s active metro networks.
Q: Between rail, renewables, data centers and traditional industrial capex, which segment is compounding fastest for ABB Motion in India over the next 3–5 years, and does that change what ABB manufactures locally? Is this becoming a distinct revenue driver, and what are the five-year growth expectations?
A: On the fastest compounding segment over the next 3 to 5 years, data centers and traditional industrial capex should deliver the strongest, most consistent growth, aided by short and long cycle investment across manufacturing, chemicals, cement, metals and food processing.
Rail remains significant long term but less linear given complex project cycles, reinforcing ABB’s “local for local” strategy amid growing localisation for resilient supply chains.
Q: In the Kolkata Metro deployment, ABB’s HVAC drives delivered average energy savings of 25%. Is that broadly representative of what industrial customers can expect?
A: Around 80% of India’s metro rail networks rely on ABB traction drives and motor technology. In Kolkata Metro, variable speed drives let HVAC systems run based on actual demand, delivering around 25% savings.
Savings vary by application, but the opportunity extends well beyond metros to pumps, fans and compressors that often run at constant speed despite fluctuating demand.
Q: Where is ABB seeing the fastest adoption in India right now, new-economy sectors like data centers and EV manufacturing, or traditional heavy industry retrofitting old plants?
A: On where adoption is fastest, momentum is strong across both segments. AI, cloud computing and digitalisation are driving data centers investment, with India’s data center capacity expected to grow significantly over the next five years, as ABB improves cooling and HVAC efficiency through advanced motors and variable speed drives.
Traditional industries, meanwhile, are modernising ageing motor driven systems with high efficiency motors, VSDs and digital condition monitoring, alongside growing electrification replacing turbine driven systems.
Modernisation offers a faster, capital efficient path to competitiveness and sustainability, making both greenfield and brownfield upgrades strong growth engines for ABB Motion in India.
Catch all the latest updates from the stock market here