Multiphase induction machines are getting more attention in industry and academia because of their advantages and need for electric vehicles as well as ship propulsion. In this case, more number of power electronics devices are required due to higher number of phases. Moreover, in comparison with electromechanical systems, the probability of failure in power electronic inverter switches will be high. A fault in a semiconductor switch, without any proper alleviating methods, may result in the failure of the entire drive. To improve the reliability of induction motor drives (IMD), there is a necessity to enhance the postfault operation of the inverters. In this article, the proposed nine-phase IMD incorporates simple mathematical equations and less circuit reconfigurations to work under conditions of open-switch fault in either a single switch or the inverter's entire leg. This enables the drive to achieve balanced steady-state operation with minimal deration in output power/torque under the fault conditions. In addition, alternative operational technique, which modulates the healthy phases of fault phase group with 50% duty ratio and minimal circuit reconfiguration, is discussed in this article. Moreover, all possible fault conditions and associated reconfiguration details of the drive are described in detail. To validate the proposed concepts, finite element method analysis is performed using ANSYS Maxwell, and experimentation is performed in the laboratory for both normal and fault conditions on nine-phase IMD. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.