Govt makes it mandatory to procure 75% of metro rail cars indigenously
NEW DELHI, DH News Service Apr 23 2017, 19:02 IST
A total of 1,912 metro coaches are currently operational in the country with another 1,420 under procurement, the ministry said in a statement. PTI File Photo
In a fresh push to Make in India, the government Sunday made domestic procurement mandatory for 75% of metro rail cars and 25% of its critical equipment.
“The initiatives are expected to incentivise setting up of manufacturing facilities in the country by increasing the volumes of procurement ... This will in turn result in reduction of cost through economies of scale,” the ministry of urban development said.
Until now there were no procurement restrictions for metro rail coaches and a bulk of them were imported.
It said each metro coach costs about Rs 10 crore and India needs to procure 1,600 coaches in the next three years.
A total of 1,912 metro coaches are currently operational in the country with another 1,420 under procurement, the ministry said in a statement.
“With rapid expansion of metro rail projects in the country, ministry of urban fevelopment has taken several far reaching decisions to promote Make in India campaign. These include stipulating certain mandatory conditions to be incorporated in tender documents of metro companies for procurement of metro cars and related critical equipment and sub-systems, procurement of only Made in India signaling equipment besides standardizing technical parameters for rolling stock (metro coaches) and signaling equipment,” it said.
“A minimum 75% of the tendered quantity of metro cars shall be manufactured indigenously with progressive indigenisation of content, for which the contractor may either establish independent manufacturing facility in India or partner with Indian manufacturers, if the procurement is more than 100 cars,” the ministry said.
It said the requirement of metro cars at state level shall be clubbed to enable applicability of local procurement norms.
Indigenisation of several metro functions has also been prescribed. These relate to communication systems, managing operational disturbances, time table preparation, fault reporting, control traction power, maintenance, infrastructure supervision, rolling stock management, it said.