Growth of Energy Recovery Ventilation in the Indian Commercial Sector

Growth of Energy Recovery Ventilation in the Indian Commercial Sector

India's Grade-A office space in India’s top seven cities reached about 72 million sq. ft in 2025, growing by 6% on better demand from domestic and foreign companies, according to real estate consultant Colliers. With this growth ventilation systems have gained importance even as Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) rating system require projects to meet minimum fresh air ventilation standards (often referencing ASHRAE or National Building Code norms). According to the certification requirements, buildings must be designed to provide adequate outdoor fresh air to all habitable spaces, but the method of supplying or conditioning this air is up to the project team. While not required, incorporating an ERV is an excellent way to gain points under the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and Energy Efficiency categories. It helps manage the energy load of conditioning outside air while meeting strict indoor air quality standards. 

Many new commercial projects are now installing ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilation) systems in malls, IT parks, hospitals, and data centres. These systems recover both energy and moisture, keeping relative humidity at 40–60% to fight mould in Mumbai and Bengaluru offices, or filter dust and pollutants from Delhi boardrooms where outdoor PM2.5 levels regularly exceed safe thresholds. India's ERV market is therefore benefiting from three forces converging at once: the rapid expansion of Grade-A office and commercial space, the scale-up of green building certification, and growing pressure to control humidity and indoor air quality without sharply increasing HVAC energy use. The best ERV opportunities sit in building types that combine high occupancy, large fresh-air requirements, or tight humidity-control needs. This includes Grade A offices, IT parks, malls, hospitals, educational buildings, hotels, data centres, and premium mixed-use developments, all of which are seeing stronger scrutiny around ventilation effectiveness, filtration, and lifecycle energy performance, particularly in air pollution prone cities.

In 2024, ERV adoption in India was still mostly concentrated in premium commercial properties and some specialized institutional buildings. By 2025, the market had clearly moved into a faster-growth phase, with more references to pre-installed ERVs in new building projects, decentralized compact systems, and building automation integration. Currently, the trend is shifting toward broader specification in commercial real estate, especially as developers prioritize occupant health, energy savings, and humidity control together. The result is that ERVs are becoming less of a niche accessory and more of a standard HVAC consideration for better-quality buildings.

Since the pandemic, the domestic manufacturing base has also strengthened considerably, shifting from an almost purely export-oriented model to one serving the domestic market directly. As per BRG estimates, commercial ERV ventilation installations have doubled since 2020 and are expected to grow two-fold again by 2030. Domestic players such as ASTBERG VENTILATION (headquartered in Ludhiana, Punjab), MARUT AIR, ZENCO INDUSTRIES (Maharashtra), have emerged at the forefront of this market, offering ventilation systems with airflow capacities typically ranging from 200 CMH to over 10,000 CMH.  ASTBERG, positions itself as bringing European-standard ERV and HRV technology to Indian conditions, offering both residential and commercial ducted systems. On the other hand, multi nationals such as PANASONIC, Taiwan based DELTA ELECTRONICS, Sweden based ÖSTBERG, Daikin India and others are also active in this growing market typically at a higher price point and often targeting large commercial and institutional projects. Unlike European markets where ERVs are integrated primarily with heating systems in cold climates virtually all ERV systems deployed in India are configured to work alongside cooling technologies such as VRFs, chillers, and other types of air conditioning, reflecting India's predominantly warm and humid conditions. That said, these systems remain fully reversible and can operate in heat-recovery mode as well, which is relevant for northern and high-altitude regions in winter. 

Looking ahead, India represents a significant long-term opportunity for the ERV market, though the path to scale will be gradual. India identified as one of the key growth contributors alongside China, South Korea, and Japan. However, in the Indian context, ERV penetration remains limited, and niche compared to Europe, where mechanical ventilation with energy recovery has been standard practice in residential and commercial buildings for decades, driven by stringent building energy codes and cold-climate heating costs. In India, the combination of price sensitivity, lower awareness among smaller developers, the absence of a national mandate for mechanical ventilation, and the relative complexity of integrating ERVs with existing HVAC systems means that mass-market adoption is still some years away. The near-term growth will continue to be driven by Grade-A commercial projects, green-certified buildings, and health-focused sectors such as hospitals and data centres. As building codes tighten, IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) awareness grows, and domestic manufacturing brings prices down, ERVs are well-positioned to transition from a specialist specification to a mainstream consideration in the Indian environment over the next five to ten years.

Himanshu Labroo

Source: BRG Research

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