Rs 90,000-crore FDI may flow into Railways

Indian-Railways

The Indian Railways may witness foreign direct investment (FDI) amounting to as much as Rs 90,300 crore. A list of projects released by the railway ministry suggests foreign investors are taking huge interest in spending on the country’s rail infrastructure.

The Rs 63,000-cr Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed corridor and Rs 14,000-cr CSTM-Panvel suburban corridor are two of the largest projects. The other big one includes the Rs 1,200-crore Kachrapara rail coach factory, besides multiple freight line, electrification and signalling projects.

“We will hold two investor meets to apprise potential investors of the kind of models and projects on offer for participation,” Railway Board Chairman Arunendra Kumar said.

The investor meet organised earlier this month saw participation of about 150 top executives from 65 private companies.

Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said that an investor-friendly framework will be in place to attract investment on a long-term sustainable basis.

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed corridor stretches 534 km and will be implemented on a design-build-finance-operate-transfer (DBFOT) basis, with government-to-government cooperation. For the Kachrapara rail coach factory, the ministry has finalised the lowest price per coach as the bidding parameter. The factor is being planned to roll out 500 such coaches annually.

Among the companies that have expressed interest in the ministry’s PPP initiative are Reliance Infrastructure, Larsen & Toubro, Siemens, Adani Ports, GMR, Tata Infrastructure, Gammon, Jindal Steel and Power, JSW, Bombardier, GE, Alstom, Electromotive Diesel, Bharat Heavy Electricals, NMDC, JPMorgan and HSBC.