In this article, a multilevel inverter (MLI) scheme is proposed for four-pole (4-pole), nine-phase (9-phase) induction motor (IM) drives with improved dc bus utilization as well as reduced device count. The proposed MLI is realized with nine three-switch inverter legs (3-SIL) and a single dc source. In the proposed MLI, each 3-SIL is utilized for exciting the two identical voltage profile coils/phase of the four-pole (4-pole) stator winding, which means each leg has to be modulated with two references. These two independent references/leg will limit the modulation index (M.I) of 3-SIL-based proposed MLI. This lower M.I will result in a requirement of the higher magnitude of dc-link voltage to achieve the rated load voltage requirement. In this article, an effective phase reconfiguring concept is proposed for reducing the dc-link voltage requirement of the proposed MLI. In addition, all the possibilities of phase reconfiguring details for proposed MLI-fed 9-phase IM drive are also presented. A three-phase carrier-based space vector pulsewidth modulation is implemented for improving the linear modulation range of proposed MLI configuration further. In contrast with existing 9-phase three-level inverters, like NPC and FC, the proposed MLI configuration requires only one dc link (with half of the magnitude) and lesser number of semiconductor devices. The proposed MLI-fed, 5 hp, 9-phase, 4-pole IM drive is validated by using Ansys Maxwell FEM simulation and experimental prototype for entire modulation range. © 1982-2012 IEEE.