Metro companies will have to buy 75 per cent coaches made in India

It is now mandatory for the metro rail companies to procure minimum 75 per cent of train cars and 25 per cent of critical equipment from within the country, a norm made compulsory under the ‘Make in India’ campaign. The Urban Development Ministry has incorporated these mandatory conditions in the metro companies’ tender documents which have been circulated to them, making the new norms effective immediately.

At present, it is not mandatory for the companies to procure metro train cars manufactured in India. Minimum 75 per cent of the tendered quantity of metro cars should be manufactured indigenously for which the suppliers may either establish independent manufacturing facility in India or partner with Indian manufacturers, provided the procurement is more than 100 cars, as per the new tender document.

The requirement of metro cars at the state level will be clubbed to enable applicability of local procurement norms. As many as 1,912 metro coaches are operational in the country at present and there is an immediate requirement of 1,420 cars.

Over the next three years, more than 1,600 metro cars would be required and each coach is estimated to cost about Rs 10 crore. The norms also make it mandatory for the metro companies to purchase 25 per cent of the “critical equipment and sub- systems” from within the country. For this, a list of critical equipment and sub-systems for procurement from indigenous manufacturing will be included in the tender document. It has also been made mandatory for the companies with large size fleet to undertake in-house maintenance.

Meanwhile, the ministry has also standardised norms for rolling stock



(coaches) and signaling equipment norms, covering 90 per cent of the imports. This will incentivise setting up of manufacturing facilities in the country due to increase in orders, an official release said. To promote indigenous manufacturing, the Ministry has made it mandatory to procure nine types of signaling equipment manufactured in the country, it added. The ministry will also soon evolve common eligibility criteria for the suppliers of rolling stock and other equipment doing away with the present variations across different metro companies.

In a discussion with the managing directors of metro companies on April 21, Urban Development Secretary Rajiv Gauba noted that such variations adversely impact competition.

He said that a broad uniform criteria in respect of net worth, financial and technical capacities and experience of supply of rolling stock and other equipment should be evolved in two weeks. At present, metros are operational in seven cities – Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Jaipur, Gurgaon, Bengaluru and Chennai – with a total route length of 326 kms.

Metro projects with a total route length of 546 kms are under construction in 11 cities and projects with a total route length of 903 kms in 13 cities are under consideration. Bombardier Corporation, which supplies coaches to the Delhi Metro, has welcomed the government’s initiative on local procurement. “We welcome the decision of the government for metro rail operators on indigenous and local content,” Bombardier Transportation, Chief Country Representative (India) Harsh Dhingra said. He said the company already maintains the norm of 75 per cent of local procurement of metro cars for the DMRC.