Ramkrishna Forgings-Titagarh JV lowest bidder for forged wheels tender

Consortium needs to supply 80K of forged wheels annually over 20-year timeline

In a major boost to Indian Railways’ Make in India plan, a consortium of Ramkrishna Forgings and Titagarh Wagons has emerged as the lowest bidder (L1) for setting up a manufacturing plant in the country, with assured offtake of 80,000 wheels per annum for the next 20 years.

The joint venture made a bid of Rs 12,226 crore for the mega order, beating Bharat Forge, which bid Rs 17,875 crore, and state-owned Steel Authority of India (SAIL), whose bid was the highest at Rs 18,817 crore.

The lowest bid is close to the Railways’ own estimate when it floated the tender, where the annual offtake was estimated at Rs 600 crore, or Rs 12,000 crore for 20 years.

Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the tender last September to build a self-reliant supply chain of forged wheels, which are necessary for semi-high-speed and high-speed trains.

Railways will require increased production capacity for these wheels with more than 400 Vande Bharat trains being rolled out in the years to come.

“This is testament to our strong technical capabilities and our commitment to delivering high-quality products to our customers. Also, the partnership with Titagarh Wagons is a strategic move towards expanding our presence in the rail segment. We are confident that our joint efforts will enable us to deliver world-class products and services to the Indian Railways,” said Naresh Jain, managing director, Ramkrishna Forgings.

The issue of scarcity of forged wheels came to the fore after the national transporter had to place an order for 39,000 semi-forged wheels with a Chinese company, citing disrupted European supply chains as a consequence of the Russia-Ukraine war.

The tender conditions mandate the winning bidder to build a manufacturing facility within 36 months, while the price applicable will be reduced by 2 per cent every year until three years. From the fourth year onwards, the applicable price will be 94 per cent of the quoted price.

“Presently, SAIL is supplying at an average rate of Rs 1.87 lakh per tonne. Existing domestic capacity is SAIL: 40,000 wheels; Rashtriya Ispat Nigam: 80,000 wheels (yet to start regular commercial production),” said the Ministry of Railways, adding that demand for forged wheels is expected to reach 200,000 per year by 2026.