JSPL Delivered 35,000 MT Rails to Indian Railways in July-October

As per latest reports, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) has delivered 35,000 MT of rails to the Indian Railways during July to October 2018.

In July, the company had bagged 20% of INR 2,500 crore global rail tender floated by the railways, becoming the first private player to supply rails to the national transporter. The company received the order is to supply around 1 lakh MT (aprrox 560 crore) of rails over a period of one year.

“As on October 31, 2018, we have supplied 35,000 MT or 35% of the order after RDSO (Research Design and Standards Organisation) approval. It’s only three months and we have supplied more than one-third of the order,” N A Ansari, CEO, JSPL Steel Business, said. The railways had invited the global tender for procuring around 4.87 lakh MT of rails to meet the supply shortfall from state-run SAIL.

In the tender invited earlier this year, seven foreign steel companies and JSPL from India had submitted bids. Till now the national transporter was procuring rails from government-owned SAIL. JSPL was the only Indian steel maker in the fray and was expected to get an assured order of 20% under the ‘Make in India’ clause. JSPL is the only private company that produces rails in India. It was already supplying rails to various countries such as Iran and Bangladesh.

The company operates the country’s most advanced 1 MnT pa rail mill at its 3.6 MnT pa integrated steel plant in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh. It can manufacture single piece rails of up to 121 metre. SAIL produces rails at its Bhilai Steel Plant in Chhattisgarh, Central India.

The railways had decided on an extra global tender after anticipating that SAIL would not be able to supply the 7,17,000 MT required for 2017-18 and 2018-19, as estimated at that time. The Indian Railways is looking at 4,000 km of track renewal in each of the next two financial years, 2018-19 and 2019-20. Its estimated cost for 2018-19 is a little above Rs 10,000 crore.

source: SteelMint