India’s Ropeway Industry Is Having A Moment
Policy push and potential for good returns are drawing big players like Adani Enterprises to a sector now gearing up for ambitious expansion.
The Gist
The Indian government aims to transform its small ropeway industry into a significant transport system with ambitious new projects and investments.
- The government plans to develop 250 ropeway projects over five years, with an investment of Rs 1.25 trillion.
- Billionaire Gautam Adani's company is set to build a 12.9 km ropeway, marking a significant entry into the sector.
- Challenges include public adoption and the need for skilled professionals in ropeway engineering.
A small ropeways industry, both passenger and industrial, has quietly existed in India for decades. But that’s about to change, or at least the Indian government hopes to with its new policy push. The aspiration is simple — scaled-up projects will bring multi-fold growth in passenger usage of ropeways, something that is already happening in other parts of the world.
This September, billionaire Gautam Adani added ropeways to his sprawling infrastructure portfolio. Adani Enterprises will develop the 12.9-kilometre Sonprayag–Kedarnath ropeway, an investment of Rs 4,081 crore ($490 million), marking its debut in the sector. Adani’s is one of the biggest projects under the Parvatmala Pariyojana that the National Ropeways Development Programme launched during the Budget of 2022–23.
The government has plans for 250 ropeway projects within five years, spanning 1,200 kilometres, with an estimated total investment of Rs 1.25 trillion, according to Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.
For a country that has fewer than 100 operational passenger ropeways today, most under two kilometres in length, this won't be easy.
A Sector In Motion
Ropeways serve as a mass transport system in parts of Europe and Asia, and the government aims to replicate that. Several projects are already underway — a Rs 644 crore, 3.85 km long public transport ropeway in Varanasi, Adani’s Rs 4081 crore project to develop the 12.9 km Sonprayag-Kedarnath Ropeway and a 12.4 km route from Govindghat to Hemkund Sahib Ji with a planned investment of Rs 2800 crore.
India’s ropeway ambitions have grown big enough for it to warrant a transfer to the Roads Ministry, from its earlier home at the Tourism Ministry.
Some reports estimate India to have 80-100 passenger ropeways, almost all of them in the range of 500 metres to 2km length.
Conglomerates Move In
For decades, India’s ropeway landscape was dominated by niche operators like Usha Breco and Udan Khatola, companies that built and operated short passenger ropeways mostly catering to pilgrimage routes.
The government push, a likelihood of high-teens returns and opportunity to build and cash a long-term asset, have all collectively tugged at the interest strings of infra companies.
GR Infraprojects Ltd has bagged its first ropeway contract and expects a breakout year in FY25–26. Others like KEC International are chasing engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mandates rather than long-term operation.
Adani Enterprises is the biggest and the latest to enter this space.
The Sonprayag-Kedarnath Ropeway Project is Adani’s maiden ropeway project. While it’s not clear how big Adani’s portfolio in this sector will be, people in the know said, “The company plans to add more ropeways.”
Another source said that Adani Enterprises was also a participating bidder for the Hemkund project.
Companies are estimating a 15-18% internal rate of return over a 30-year period.
Niche To Asset Class
The new tender model requires bidders to make most of the investment and quote a revenue share for a 30-year plus operating contract.
Shivdutt Das, group managing director at Vishwa Samudra Holdings, which won the 12.4 km Govindghat to Hemkund Sahib Ji ropeway project said that the growth potential justifies the high-revenue share bids.
“For projects like the Hemkund Sahib stretch, our revenue share offering of 45 percent is based on our optimism of multi-fold growth in traffic. Currently, there is no alternative, steady transport on this route,” Das said.
Historically too, ropeways appear to have offered operators healthy returns. Take Usha Breco, operating but with healthy current profit before interest, lease rentals, depreciation, and taxation (PBILDT) margins of more than 50 per cent. Das adds as an industry, ropeways are still new to India, with not many players and
According to Aniket Dani, director with Crisil Intelligence, being cost-effective and eco-friendly are two big selling points for these projects.
“With minimal environmental impact, ropeways offer a cost-effective, energy-efficient, and reliable transport solution for India’s challenging terrains,” Dani said.
Compared with Europe, where France has around 4,000 ropeways and Switzerland about 1,700, India’s 80–100 systems barely register. But the momentum is building. The Kedarnath ropeway alone will reduce travel time from eight hours to 36 minutes.
Though expensive than a bus-system on flat land, ropeways are seen as cost-effective to build in a hilly region. Studies list increased connectivity, green mobility, economic growth owing to business and tourism development, land-value un-locking and inclusivity as some of its socio-economic advantages.
Inherent Challenges
In addition to building in hilly terrains, ropeways also face other concerns, leading to delays.
The Varanasi stretch, for instance, has been delayed, because of multiple challenges including low-availability of tourist-free time to construct it.
Those who have operated in this space for the last few decades list passenger hesitance to shell out more for tickets and the lack of institutional skilling as other concerns.
Unlike other engineering disciplines, ropeway engineering lacks dedicated academic institutions, both in India and abroad. Because of this, much depends on experiential knowledge and traditional know-how.
“Without the deep-rooted expertise of legacy practitioners, these ventures risk operational failures or even safety disasters, underscoring the importance of seasoned professionals in this niche sector,” Brijender Lall, founder CEO and managing director at Aarconinfra Ropeways & Future Mobility told The Core.
“Larger ropeway projects demand meticulous planning for feasibility and execution. Longer stretches can face extended timelines for completion. A critical factor is public adoption, with questions lingering about whether passengers will pay for high fares,” he added.
Local Push And Currency Risk
Aligned with the ‘Make in India’ initiative, the programme mandates at least 50% indigenous components in ropeway construction.
At a pre-execution, consultancy level, companies like Dhruv Consultancy, highlight a local advantage. Executives from the consultancy noted plans to tie up with companies in Austria for technology’s sake. “There are no consultants and foreign consultants cannot easily penetrate, they need to have a local consultant with them,” they told analysts.
Despite the local push, many components for ropeways are still imported.
“As on challenges, 60-65% is the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) cost, for which we rely on Swiss companies, so there is a currency fluctuation risk from a pure EPC point of view. However, as developers we see ropeways as a long-term play and an asset-based model,” Das noted.
EPC play refers to engineering, procurement and construction, where a company aims to earn from building an asset. An asset-based model on the other hand, aims to make money out of operating an asset for a set number of years.
Dani from Crisil explained this dependence on foreign OEMs can lead to cost escalations, procurement delays, and maintenance challenges due to limited domestic expertise and spare part availability.
He concluded with the government taking active measures to develop indigenous components, this is likely to have minimal impact.
