Induction machines transient thermal analysis has been a subject of interest for machine designers in their effort to improve machine reliability. The stator being static is prone to high temperature. Therefore, the study of transient thermal behavior in the stator is useful to identify causes of failure in induction machines. The paper presents a two-dimensional transient heat flow in the stator of an induction motor using arch shaped elements in the r–θ plane of the cylindrical co-ordinate system. A temperature–time method is employed to evaluate the distribution of loss in various parts of the machine. Using these loss distributions as an input for finite element analysis, more accurate temperature distributions can be obtained. The model is applied to one squirrel cage Totally Enclosed Fan Cooled (TEFC) machine of 7.5kW. Finally the temperatures obtained by this two-dimensional approximation at different location of stator have been compared for different stator currents considering the time required for each stator current during the transient in reactor starting.