Honeywell bets on sustainable and smart cities in India as demand expected to grow

Honeywell

With the urban population rising manifold in India, US conglomerate Honeywell plans to increase its presence in the country with a focus on segments like Sustainable Building and Smart City Projects.

"Rising urban population means higher need for building sustainable housing, raising e-governance and citizen administration," said Manish Sharma, Vice President and Chief Product Officer, Connected Buildings at Honeywell. A lot of smart cities are not seen physically but many governments are using systems and automation to manage waste, traffic, and video surveillance systems, he added. Countries like India want to build more smart cities and provide better services to their citizens via e-governance.

According to a study by McKinsey, the global urban population is expected to rise from 55 percent of the total population currently to 68 percent by 2050, a whopping addition of 250 crore people.

India’s Smart Cities Mission launched on June 25, 2015, is aimed at providing core infrastructure, a clean and sustainable environment and a decent quality of life to citizens through the application of ‘smart solutions’. It is a transformational mission aimed at bringing a paradigm shift in the practice of urban development in the country. As of date, 6,000+ projects worth more than Rs 1.1 lakh crore have been completed and the remaining projects will be completed by June 30, 2024.

"With the rising population, we need better resource and public management systems. There have been reports suggesting climate change and water crises after 2030. Hence, we need better solutions to manage our power grids, water supply systems, and India's growth prospects and pledge to fight against climate change and become carbon neutral provides a lot of opportunities for such sustainable solution providers," said Avinash Gorakshakar, Director Research - ProfitMart Sec.

Smart Cities Conclave 2023

President Droupadi Murmu graced the India Smart Cities Conclave 2023 at Indore, Madhya Pradesh on September 27. The President said, “According to an assessment over 50 percent of our population would be living in urban areas by the year 2047 and that the total contribution of cities to GDP would be over 80 percent by that time."

She added that emphasis is being laid on green buildings and renewable energy for energy efficiency in cities, but there is a need to work on a more comprehensive level in these areas.

“We have to achieve our objectives by moving towards Sustainable Development Goals,” the President said. The goal of SDG 11 is to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. This goal underlines the importance of holistic and inclusive development of cities.

Multinational companies like Honeywell, Schneider Electric, Soracom, Siemens and Cisco have been closely working with government agencies in India to provide solutions to meet PM Narendra Modi's climate and smart cities goals. Honeywell has been developing several products which help buildings and cities become more sustainable. Products include sensors and systems for optimum temperature management using AI, energy controls, and fire and smoke detectors.

The key challenge of making office or residential buildings sustainable and smart requires a lot of investments. For a country like India, higher capital outlay and cost would be a key challenge, which needs government support and subsidies, Sharma of Honeywell said.