As India addresses growing water stress, urbanization, and rising industrial and agricultural demand, sustainable water management is becoming increasingly critical for industries and infrastructure. At ABB, water stewardship is an integral part of the company’s broader sustainability vision and technology-led approach toward enabling resilient infrastructure and responsible resource management.
Across India, ABB is supporting sustainable water management through responsible manufacturing practices, digital water technologies, irrigation infrastructure, and community-focused initiatives.
Building sustainable manufacturing ecosystems
ABB India continues to strengthen water stewardship across its manufacturing footprint, including Peenya, Nelamangala, Nashik, and Faridabad. In place of simply replacing the amount of water taken from the environment, the company implemented a systematic approach towards ‘Water Positivity’ to replenish more water than it consumes at these locations. The Nelamangala campus was first certified Water Positive by the GRIHA Council in 2021 with a Water Positive Index (WPI) of 1.24. Nashik Plant 1 received Water Positive certification in 2023, followed by the Peenya campus in 2024. Faridabad recorded the highest WPI performance among ABB India’s certified facilities, replenishing nearly 1.29 times the water it withdraws for operations. These initiatives include groundwater recharge, wastewater reuse, drip irrigation, and real-time water monitoring systems.
ABB’s Nelamangala campus also received Gold-level certification under the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Standard, making ABB the first company in India’s automotive, electrical equipment, and machinery manufacturing sector to achieve this certification.
Beyond its manufacturing operations, ABB India has also expanded its community-focused water stewardship efforts through groundwater recharge initiatives in water-stressed regions. In partnership with Third Planet Foundation, the company supported a large-scale groundwater recharge project across 70 villages in Karnataka using patented BoreCharger technology. The initiative has helped revive nearly 100 borewells across surrounding communities, supporting irrigation reliability, agricultural productivity, and improved drinking water access, delivering a remarkable improvement over natural annual groundwater recharge rates.
Enabling smarter water networks
Designed for accurate real-time monitoring and operational reliability, ABB’s water management technologies, including flowmeters, softstarters, drives, and solar-powered water solutions, are engineered to perform effectively even in remote, low-power, and geographically challenging environments, making them well suited to India’s diverse water infrastructure requirements.
In 2024, ABB marked 20 years of its AquaMaster electromagnetic flowmeters in India. Today, AquaMaster systems are deployed across 15 cities in eight states, with nearly 2,000 units installed nationwide.
ABB’s flow measurement technologies have supported utilities and water management projects in cities including Surat and Bengaluru, helping improve operational visibility, reduce water losses, identify leakages, and strengthen distribution efficiency. In Karnataka’s Koppal district, ABB supported the deployment of digital flowmeters as part of a rural drinking water management initiative implemented alongside Larsen & Toubro and the Karnataka government. The project aims to improve water distribution visibility and enable more efficient management of drinking water resources across villages.
In Varanasi, our softstarters were deployed by Jal Kal Varanasi to help support uninterrupted water supply infrastructure serving nearly 60 percent of the city. In Shimla, softstarters were deployed to improve the reliability and operational efficiency of the city’s water pumping infrastructure, enabling more stable and uninterrupted water supply in geographically challenging terrain.
Contributing to large-scale irrigation infrastructure
ABB technologies continue to support several lift irrigation and pumping infrastructure projects across India aimed at improving irrigation access, strengthening water distribution, and enhancing agricultural resilience. ABB Motors supplied to OEMs and EPCs also support various lift irrigation schemes and pumping stations across 9 states - Mizoram, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Goa, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
The company has contributed technologies to projects including the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, the world's largest multi-stage lift irrigation project, and the Mahatma Gandhi Kalwakurthy Lift Irrigation Scheme (MGKLIS) in Telangana. ABB motors, drives, switchgear, and automation technologies support reliable and energy-efficient water movement across pumping stations serving agricultural and rural communities, serving more than 250,000 people in the region.
ABB has additionally supported water infrastructure through solar pump drive technologies designed to improve energy efficiency and support sustainable irrigation operations in regions with evolving agricultural and water management needs.
Enabling a more sustainable water future
As the need to preserve shared natural resources and to develop resilient and sustainable water systems continues to grow, ABB remains committed to advancing technologies and solutions that contribute to a more resource-efficient future for communities and industries across India.
