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Titagarh Wagons Ltd, the flagship company of Titagarh Group, promoted by the Chowdhary family, will look at coach-making bids for upcoming metro railway projects in cities such as Vijayawada, Mumbai and Pune.
According to Umesh Chowdhary, Vice-Chairman & Managing Director, Titagarh Wagons has already ramped up its metro coach making facility at Uttarpara – 30 km from Kolkata – at an estimated investment of over ₹150 crore.
The facility now has a 25 units (coach) per month capacity.
The company had previously bagged a contract for rehabilitation of 56 coaches (seven rakes) from the Kolkata Metro Railway.
Titagarh Wagons is also into manufacturing of passenger coaches.
“We will look to start participating and bagging coach making order for metro railways in 2017-18 and are hopeful of execution of (these) orders from 2018-19 onwards,” he told BusinessLine during an interview.
Interestingly, Chowdhary maintains that his company has already gone ahead and has started “creating capacities”. The coaches, he claimed, will be aluminium-bodied making them more efficient, both in terms of performance and cost.
Chowdhary pointed out that the group is also looking at the Navy and defence sectors with a “focus on specialised vessels”.
In December, it secured an accreditation from the Defence Ministry for “undertaking construction of non-weapon platforms up to 120 m length” and all types of yardcraft.
The company also bagged its first contract with the Indian Navy in November last year for manufacturing vessels – an order for building two 1000T oil tankers – worth about ₹75 crore.
In February, it secured a “letter of intent” from the National Institute of Ocean Technology (under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences) for design, construction and delivery of two coastal research vessels valued at ₹100 crore.
Wagon demandThis apart, the group will also focus on overseas ventures. A lot of its wagons are being made in India and then sold through its French arm.
Demand for wagons in India, Chowdhary said, is expected to go up soon with the Railways already creating capacities through its capex plans. Hence, it is “just a matter of time” when demand picks up.
“We are waiting for that time when demand for wagons will go up. We are entering that stage (increase in demand) in the next one year,” he pointed out.
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