Plasser India Rs 400-cr Vadodara unit to start operations by Mar-end

Railway machinery maker Plasser India is setting up its second manufacturing facility at Vadodara in Gujarat at an investment of Rs 400 crore, a top company official said Monday.

The new unit will be spread over an area of 25 acres and would commence operations by the end of March 2019, the company's Managing Director (MD), Siegfried Fink, who was here to meet Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, told PTI.

The company has a unit at Faridabad (Haryana) where it makes machines used for railway track maintenance, laying down of tracks, their alignment etc, he said.

When asked about the agenda of meeting with the minister, Fink said it was to apprise him about the "dumping of machinery from China".

If cheap imports take place, Indian machine makers would find it difficult to survive in the market, Plasser India Director Vikas Vig said.

"China does not allows any foreign company to participate in public procurement. It says if any company wants to sell its products in China, that company must first invest in China. So if China is interested in India, they must also come and invest here and participate in tenders," he said further.

The government promotes Make In India and Plasser India is already making in India for past 50 years and has given employment to over 400 people, he said adding another 500-600 people will get job at the Vadodara plant, Fink said.