The Payal Nanjiani Leadership Podcast

Sebi Joseph | President of Otis India
After having left India to pursue his international stints at Otis, Sebi came back home in 2012 as the managing director for India. While he was thrilled, he had multiple challenges that awaited him. India is the second-largest elevator segment after China. India is a strategic market and gives tremendous opportunities for growth. Otis came to India in 1892 ( 128 years ago) and over the years had grown big but by the late 1990s was losing its edge; it failed to read the changing customer pulse and their aspirations and had moved away from the market, alienating customers. At the same time Competition had gained considerable momentum. Performance was impacted, Otis India even made a loss in 2011. All areas of operations were under stress. Sebi with the leadership team decided to take a pause, look deep inside, look wide outside, and came up with the Otis India vision UDAAN - a flight into a brighter future. The writing on the wall was clear; if we have to have a future, Sebi knew, Change was the only mantra; strategies were re-visited; business models were revised; new products were introduced, and the company actively started listening to our people and customers. Soon after, Otis India began making progress – Otis India won several awards from Otis presidents for financial performance, NE order growth, safety, innovation, and overall business transformation. Otis India won the largest single contract elevator order in Indian elevator industry history: Hyderabad Metro. Tallest statue of the world: Statue of Unity. In addition, employee satisfaction survey scores continue to remain high and are consistently above global benchmarks even today.