JV with Chinese firm in fray for supplying Vande Bharat trains, set to be barred

NEW DELHI: Six players including a joint venture company with participation of a Chinese firm CRRC Corporation have bid for the railways' global tender for supplying 44 semi-high speed indigenous trainsets (train 18). Sources said the bid of CRRC Pioneer Electric would be scrapped.
The current tender would be of around Rs 1,500 crore, sources said. The other five bidders are BHEL, Hyderabad-based Medha Group, Parwanoo-based Electrowaves Electronic Pvt Ltd, Sangrur-based Bharat Industries and Navi Mumbai-based Powernetics Equipments Pvt Ltd.
Government officials said the clause of Make in India guideline specifies the power of nodal ministry to exclude bidders if the majority of shareholding or effective control is exercised from any country other than where it is registered.
Interestingly, the online details of a couple of firms show that they have expertise in certain segments of trains. No major global player has submitted bids including two major ones who have their production facilities in India.
“The bidding will be as per the conditions. Since it’s an open bid different players have participated in the tendering process. We have very serious players vying for this project,” said a source.
The first Train 18 rake was made by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai. Currently only two of these trains are in operation.