Bombardier to invest in India with a long-term perspective: Rajeev Joisar

Mass transit systems, Metros in over 50 cities, modernisation of the Railways network, semi-high speed and high-speed trains offer huge potential to further optimise the transport system, Joisar said

A day after Bombardier Transportation (India) announced winning the Rs 2,051-crore contract for equipment supply and signalling infrastructure for Agra and Kanpur Metro lines, Rajeev Joisar, managing director, spoke to Megha Manchanda about other Metro projects and the business opportunity thrown open by the government’s decision to allow private train operators. Edited excerpts:

What is the company’s pipeline of projects?

Bombardier aims at investing in India with a long-term perspective in manufacturing facilities, local talent, developing local supplier base, enhancing engineering capabilities, and new technologies in projects which are strategic to our growth in India. We have participated in the tenders for some Metro and railway projects; certain bids are under evaluation and we are awaiting the results.

Have any of your orders been delayed?

Bombardier always believes in timely delivery and we are hopeful that despite the coronavirus crisis, we will be able to complete deliveries by the end of 2021. We will also deliver 40 Metro cars to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation by the end of the current year. Bombardier is one of the largest rolling stock suppliers to Delhi Metro, having delivered 776 Metro cars. It has been a partner to Delhi Metro for over 10 years, with more than $1.25 billion worth of orders placed on the company since 2007.

Do you see the Centre’s decision to have private trains as a business opportunity?

Mass transit systems, Metros in over 50 cities, modernisation of the Indian Railways network, semi-high speed and high-speed trains offer huge potential to further optimise the Indian transport system. It definitely is a good opportunity for us and for other companies that have manufacturing facilities in India. With the manufacturing base here, supply chain is not a problem.

Did the Covid-19-induced lockdown create sourcing issues for your company?

During earlier phases of the lockdown, there were certain challenges in terms of supply chain as Europe was closed and some of the components from there were not coming. Now, things have improved and started moving in a full-fledged way. We are constantly in touch with our suppliers and hopeful that we will meet the demand.

What has changed for the company in this new normal?

These are completely different times; something no one had envisaged. Work-from-home is the new normal and we also follow that with a majority of our employees. As far as units are concerned, earlier we had one shift per day. But now, we have two in order to maintain social distancing among workers.