RITES to continue West Asia foray, war impact not substantial: Rahul Mithal

RITES will continue expanding in West Asia despite regional conflict, betting on IMEC-linked opportunities and digital trade corridor projects

State-owned infrastructure consultant RITES, which has been eyeing business in West Asia, particularly on the back of India’s bilateral engagements, will continue its push in the region despite the war there, said Rahul Mithal, chairman and managing director.

 

“I do not foresee this as a long-term setback. The opportunities in West Asia are large. RITES Videsh, both in exports and consultancy, has order books of ₹2,100 crore. This situation is not going to have a substantial or long-term impact on our strategic plan to expand our footprint in this geography,” Mithal told Business Standard in an interview.

 

The consultancy firm had set up an office in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2024, and has since signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with several players. 

Its MoUs with UAE-based AD Ports and global ports major DP World come against the backdrop of India’s increasing participation in the “India Middle East Europe Corridor” (IMEC). It is also working on business opportunities with Etihad Rail and National Infrastructure Construction Company, on projects in both the UAE and Jordan.

 

As part of the initiative, RITES developed India’s first virtual trade corridor with the UAE. A significant recent development was operationalising the corridor using MAITRI (Master Application for International Trade and Regulatory Interface).

 

A significant recent development was the operationalisation of the Virtual Trade Corridor using MAITRI (Master Application for International Trade and Regulatory Interface) on the India-UAE leg.

 

“The pilot version went live a few days ago and has connected Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority in India to two ports in UAE. The exchange of 2 customs and 8 marine messages has started. This POC of this concept opens up huge opportunities for expanding MAITRI to other ports and other possible corridors… In the next months, we will see many opportunities,” said Mithal.

 

While there had been concerns earlier on when the development work started last year, on data security of message exchange on the virtual trade corridor due to the sensitivity of trade data, the portal has enforced all safeguards for data security, ensuring that it does not store any data, said Mithal, adding that stakeholders on both sides have been satisfied on these concerns during the proof of concept development stage, with the pilot version going live.

 

The MAITRI digital framework connects Customs and port authorities in India and the UAE, helping streamline cargo movement, reduce logistics costs and transit times, and improve overall trade efficiency between the two countries.

 

The war has had a direct impact on India’s economy and energy security as well, with the government declaring it as a force majeure event, which is likely to impact timelines on contracts and projects due to supply bottlenecks.

 

“The impact on our business model is mostly in increased travel costs (due to rising airfares). In most of the contracts on infrastructure execution, there is a clause on price variation and our fee as a consultant (as a percentage) is based on the progress of the project,” Mithal said, on whether the company had been impacted by the crisis.

 

The company, which reported ₹2,415 crore as operating revenues (10 per cent up year-on-year) in 2025-26, will eye another 10 per cent growth in 2026-27 (FY27).

 

RITES also had a ₹10,000 crore target for its order books in FY26 but ended the year around ₹600 crore short of it.

 

Mithal said that it aspired to order books of ₹10,000 crore in FY27 as well.

 

RITES will go full throttle on its exports of new and in-service diesel locomotives to Africa and around 200 rail coaches (20 rakes/trainsets) to Bangladesh.

 

The company is executing orders for 30 in-service diesel locomotives, which will be converted into cape gauge (a standard of track width measurement in African nations), which are worth around $50 million.