RITES signs pact for acquiring 24 pc in IRSDC; resumes operation post lockdown

Infrastructure consultancy and engineering company RITES on Friday said it has signed an agreement for acquiring 24 per cent stake in Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC) for Rs 48 crore.

The company has signed shareholders' agreement for acquiring 24 per cent stake in IRSDC for Rs 48 crore with Rail Land Development Authority and IRCON International being the other equity partners, the company said in a statement.

The company further said that it has resumed operations at most of its offices and project sites after the coronavirus-induced lockdown restrictions were eased.

The Miniratna public sector enterprise said that during this lockdown period, apart from concluding negotiations for a major export deal with CFM Mozambique enhanced to Rs 700 crore on account of increase in quantity, it has been able to successfully deliver the 188 RKM Vijaypur-Pachore Road-Maksi section railway electrification project in Madhya Pradesh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus on March 25. It has been extended thrice, with the fourth phase set to expire on May 31.

"During the lockdown RITES continued to focus on key business deals like exports to Africa, signing of IRSDC shareholders' agreement etc and now we have hit the ground running as we resume most of our operations within the guidelines issued by the government," RITES Ltd Chairman & Managing Director Rajeev Mehrotra said.

The company has resumed business activities adhering to necessary safety protocols and has implemented a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to guide its employees about precautions and safety measures at work, he said.

It added besides its corporate office in Gurugram, project offices at Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad and inspection offices at Bhilai, Delhi and Chennai have also started operations.

Key project activities have been resumed at various sites like rail line doubling project at Gooty-Dharmavaram, railway electrification work in Rajasthan, Project Monitoring Services at several rail connectivity works of power plants and coal mines, workshops modernization at Bikaner in Rajasthan, Kurdawadi in Maharashtra, Lumding in Assam, Sarla in Odisha, Quality Assurance work at various locations etc.

With these operations, RITES is estimated to have achieved more than half of its capacity and will scale up its activities with easing of more restrictions, it said.