Make in India gets metro boost; local procurement made mandatory

With the rapid expansion of metro rail projects in the country, Ministry of Urban Development has taken several far-reaching decisions to promote the 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 Made in India, signalling equipment, besides standardising technical parameters for rolling stock (metro coaches) and signalling equipment.

The new mandatory tender conditions and standardised norms for a wide range of equipment, approved by the Minister of Urban Development, M. Venkaiah Naidu, have been circulated to all the metro companies on Friday, making them effective immediately.

These initiatives will incentivise setting up manufacturing facilities in the country by increasing the volumes of procurement of rolling stock as also all kinds of equipment by removing variations in the present technical norms for rolling stock and equipment used for signalling. This will, in turn, result in the reduction of cost through economies of scale.