In an interview, Sumati Sahgal, Vice President – Home Solutions, Schneider Electric India, speaks with TimesTech about the rapid evolution of India’s smart home ecosystem. She shares insights on the shift from standalone devices to integrated, intelligent living, addressing Indian-specific challenges such as energy efficiency, air quality, and reliability, while highlighting Schneider Electric’s role in making smart, sustainable homes practical and future-ready.
Read the full interview here:
TimesTech: India’s smart home market is evolving rapidly. How do you see this transition unfolding—from standalone smart devices to fully integrated, intelligent home ecosystems—and where does Schneider Electric fit into this transformation?
India’s smart home journey has matured significantly over the last few years. What began with individual smart devices is now evolving into connected, meaningful home experiences that address real, everyday needs. Today’s homeowners are looking beyond convenience—they want solutions that enhance comfort, safety, energy efficiency, and overall well-being in a way that remains simple and intuitive.
At Schneider Electric, this evolution is guided by our holistic smart living strategy built on three core pillars: Energy in Homes, Energy From Homes, and Energy in Hands. Under Energy in Homes, we focus on making living spaces smarter, safer, and more comfortable through integrated solutions rather than standalone products. Platforms such as Wiser home automation and Miluz ZeTa switches with built-in air quality indicators are designed with Indian lifestyles in mind, ensuring different systems within a home work seamlessly together without adding complexity. Through Energy From Homes, we enable households to become active participants in the energy ecosystem—optimising energy consumption, improving efficiency, and preparing homes to integrate renewable energy solutions in the future. Complementing this is Energy in Hands, which empowers homeowners with intuitive controls and real-time insights, allowing them to monitor and manage their homes effortlessly.
Equally important is the ecosystem supporting smart homes. Through initiatives like Bring Home the Smart, along with a strong omnichannel retail presence, we work closely with retailers, electricians, and partners to help guide consumers through this transition. By combining localized innovation, education, and accessibility, Schneider Electric is helping smart homes move from a niche concept to an everyday reality for Indian households.
TimesTech: Indian homes operate under unique conditions, including inconsistent power supply, space constraints, and diverse climatic zones. How is Schneider Electric designing home automation solutions that balance convenience, reliability, and sustainability for real-world Indian usage?
Indian homes face very real challenges such as inconsistent power supply, space constraints, and diverse weather conditions, so smart home solutions need to be practical, reliable, and genuinely useful in everyday life. At Schneider Electric, we address these realities through tools like the Wiser Home Energy Management System, a solution that goes beyond simple automation to help homeowners understand and optimise how energy is used in the home. By giving real-time visibility into appliance consumption and control over major loads such as heating or water heating, Wiser empowers residents to make informed decisions that reduce waste and cost, even in homes with variable electricity conditions. For example, users can schedule heavy appliances to run during cheaper tariff periods, or integrate with solar panels to prioritise self-consumption, helping to balance convenience, resilience, and efficiency. This intelligent, modular approach ensures that smart home technologies are not just aspirational, but aligned with the daily needs and sustainability goals of Indian households — making connected living both dependable and meaningful for real-world usage
TimesTech: With consistently poor air quality levels across Indian cities, indoor environmental quality has become a key concern for homeowners. How are smart home technologies enabling better air quality monitoring, ventilation, and healthier living environments?
With air quality levels remaining a serious concern across Indian cities, homeowners are increasingly aware that a healthy home environment goes beyond comfort alone. Smart home technologies are now playing a meaningful role in helping families understand, manage, and improve indoor air quality as part of everyday living.
At Schneider Electric, this begins with making air quality visible and easy to track. Innovative solution such as Miluz ZeTa switches with built-in Air Quality Indicators (AQI) allow homeowners to monitor indoor air quality in real time, without needing additional devices. By integrating AQI directly into commonly used switches, air quality awareness becomes a natural part of daily life rather than a separate task.
Beyond monitoring, smart home automation platforms like Wiser help create healthier living environments through intelligent control of lighting, appliances, and ventilation-related systems. Features such as scheduling, remote access, and automation ensure that homes can be cooled, ventilated, or prepared in advance, reducing indoor discomfort and improving overall air circulation when residents return home.
These solutions are part of Schneider Electric’s broader vision of homes that are not just smart, but caring and responsive. By combining connected devices, energy management, and intuitive controls, smart home technologies enable Indian households to move toward healthier, safer, and more sustainable indoor environments, even in cities facing persistent air quality challenges.
TimesTech: Schneider Electric’s “Bring Home Smart” campaign highlights the shift from futuristic concepts to practical lifestyle enablers. How has changing consumer awareness around health, energy efficiency, and sustainability influenced your product strategy in the home and retail segment?
There has been a very clear shift in how Indian consumers approach smart homes today. Awareness around health, energy efficiency, and sustainability has grown significantly, and people are now far more deliberate about the choices they make for their homes. Smart technology is no longer about being futuristic or aspirational; it is expected to solve real problems and add value to everyday living.
The Bring Home the Smart campaign is rooted in this understanding. Our focus has been on making smart living practical, intuitive, and relevant for Indian households. Whether it is addressing concerns around indoor air quality through Miluz ZeTa switches with integrated AQI, or enabling better energy visibility and control through Wiser home automation, our product strategy is closely aligned with what consumers genuinely care about today. These solutions are designed to integrate seamlessly into daily routines, without complexity or disruption.
The festive edition of the campaign further strengthens this approach. Festive periods are when consumers actively invest in their homes, and we saw this as an opportunity to demonstrate how smart upgrades can enhance comfort, well-being, and efficiency in meaningful ways. Overall, the evolution of our home and retail portfolio reflects a clear shift toward health-led, energy-efficient, and sustainable solutions that feel accessible and relevant making smart homes a practical choice for a much wider set of Indian consumers.
TimesTech: As smart homes become more interconnected, standards, interoperability, and future-ready infrastructure play a critical role. How important are these elements in ensuring long-term adoption and scalability of smart home solutions in India?
As smart homes become more interconnected, standards and interoperability are critical to ensuring that solutions remain scalable and relevant for Indian households over the long term. Homeowners today are increasingly thoughtful about future readiness and want the confidence that the technologies they invest in will continue to work seamlessly as their needs evolve.
In India, smart home adoption typically happens in stages rather than all at once. This makes interoperability especially important, as it allows new devices and technologies to integrate smoothly with existing infrastructure. At Schneider Electric, we design our smart home solutions with this flexibility at the core.Platforms like Wiser home automation enable homeowners to begin with essential controls and gradually expand their smart ecosystem without complexity or disruption.
Future-ready infrastructure also plays a key role in driving long-term adoption. We at Schneider Electric focus on software-driven, upgradeable solutions that can evolve alongside changing lifestyles, energy usage patterns, and sustainability priorities. By prioritising openness, scalability, and integration across energy management, automation, and safety, we aim to make smart homes a dependable, long-term part of everyday living for Indian consumers.
TimesTech: Looking ahead, how are new product ranges and innovation pipelines being aligned with market demand, regulatory expectations, and the evolving priorities of Indian consumers to support India’s fast-growing smart home ecosystem?
As homeowner energy requirements change, three main aspects need attention: energy consumed in homes, energy produced from homes, and energy managed by consumers. Home energy sources are progressing and helping ease pressure on power grids. With increased use of solar panels and electric vehicles, homeowners must handle various types of energy consumption and production. However, these tasks don’t have to be complicated. Every product and software from Schneider Electric is designed to simplify life, boost efficiency, and make living spaces more sustainable.
Schneider Electric prioritizes flexibility and scalability, enabling homeowners to start with basic smart controls and expand their ecosystem as their needs change, all without added complexity. The company’s focus on software-driven, upgradeable solutions ensures that smart home infrastructure can evolve alongside shifting lifestyles, energy usage patterns, and sustainability priorities. Ultimately, every product and software innovation is rooted in the goal of making modern living simpler, more efficient, and more sustainable empowering homeowners to proactively manage their energy needs while supporting India’s fast-growing smart home ecosystem.
