Indian government-run transporter Indian Railways (IR) is likely to change its sourcing plans for steel rails by floating a domestic tender instead of a global tender as planned earlier, government sources said on Tuesday, April 30.
The sources said that earlier this year IR had planned to float a global tender to source 750,000 mt of steel rails from overseas suppliers even though domestic producers would have been eligible to participate in the bids.
However, with Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) successfully completing delivery of 97,400 mt of steel rails to IR, the first domestic private sector company to execute such an order, there has been pressure on IR to restrict the global tender to a domestic tender and to be in line with the government’s “Make in India” policy, the sources said.
Until now, state-run steelmaker Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) had been the sole domestic monopolistic supplier of steel rails to IR.
It is estimated that in the current year IR’s demand for steel rails will total around 1.67 million mt, rising to 1.7 million mt in the next fiscal year, as per the transporter’s track renewal program.