Canada’s transportation giant Bombardier plans to cash in on Indian Railways FDI

MUMBAI: With the Modi government opening up Indian railway infrastructure projects to foreign investments as part of its larger Make in India push, Canada’s transportation giant Bombardier is eyeing key projects worth at least $7-8 billion that will come up for grabs over the next 5-7 years.

Bombardier, the world’s biggest maker of passenger trains, last month issued a profit warning on the back of weak demand and is aggressively seeking growth in Asia and Asia-Pacific economies. The Montreal-based company, the world’s third-largest commercial jet maker as well, is also planning to push its new short-haul commercial C Series aircraft in India, said Pierre Beaudoin, Bombardier’s 52-year-old president and chief executive officer “as the market is coming out of its phase of turmoil and reorganisation.”

However, to make Modi’s dream of turning India into a global manufacturing and export hub, he said Indian contracts must emphasise local content and indigenisation, a controversial topic for many of these mega multi-billion dollar orders. “We have always been committed to India both in good times, and not so good times. As chief minister of Gujarat, Modi was very proactive to get us to invest in a plant in Savli, near Vadodara. That plant has worked extensively for the Delhi Metro and we have already shown that we can indeed make in India and still be competitive. But currently we are using 100% capacity to export to Australia, Brazil and Saudi Arabia,” said Beaudoin. “And now when I see Modi as the PM and his efforts to restart so many infrastructure projects, I feel upbeat.”

Today Bombardier is the largest contractor for Delhi Metro, having received orders of close to $1 billion since 2007 for rolling stock (614 cars) and signaling solutions. Since 2012, it has been exporting components, rakes, bogie frames, and metro cars for various projects in Australia, Saudi Arabia and even Brazil from the Savli unit. As part of a bigger global consortium, it recently won a $4.1-billion order from the Queensland authorities to deliver 75 new six-car trains that will be manufactured in Gujarat.

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Source:economictimes