Centre orders 75% domestic procurement for metro rail cars

In a fresh push for Make in India, the government on 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 operational in the country with another 1,420 under procurement, the ministry said in a statement.

“With rapid expansion of metro rail projects, the Ministry of Urban Development 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 signalling equipment besides standardising technical parameters for rolling stock (metro coaches) and signalling equipment,” it read.