Buy In India: Metro Projects Will Now Have To Source 75 Per Cent Coaches From Within The Country

The Ministry of Urban Development has incorporated a new requirement in tender documents of Metro Rail companies that makes it mandatory for them to procure 75 per cent of their rolling stock and 25 per cent of their critical equipment from India itself.

A press release from the ministry yesterday (23 April) stated that these mandatory conditions were put it place to enable indigenous manufacturing under the Make In India scheme, and stated that the eligibility criteria for suppliers would be standardised in two weeks.

Earlier, only the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had a condition that capped production of coaches abroad at 25 per cent. Other metro projects such as Mumbai Metro’s Line 1 and the Rapid MetroRail project in Gurgaon use completely imported rakes from China.

It remains to be seen if domestic players can match up to the requirements under the new norms. There are currently three metro coach manufactures in India: Canadian major Bombardier has a manufacturing unit in Vadodara, while France-based Alstom has a facility near Chennai. Public sector undertaking Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) has a manufacturing facility in Karnataka. Of these, Bombardier also manufactures coaches for international markets.