BEML Aims To Roll Out First Made-In-India Bullet Train In Next 24 Months

The first made-in-India bullet train is aimed to be rolled out by December 2026, said Shantanu Roy, the chairman and managing director of BEML Ltd., which has undertaken the project collaboratively with the National High Speed Rail Corp. and the Integral Coach Factory—both subsidiaries of the Indian Railways.

BEML has been tasked with designing and manufacturing the first indigenous bullet train.

"The timeline is very ambitious... By December 2026, we have to roll out the first train (which will) undergo trials and so on," Roy said, while speaking to NDTV Profit. "We are on it, and definitely, with the joint effort and all India effort, we will be able to do that," he added.

The BEML CMD said that the project for the company was a learning curve and added that they have to build two prototypes of the bullet train. He also emphasised how this was the first time anything like this was being done in the country.

“We are looking at it from the perspective of capability development. The most important thing is that the intellectual property for this remains within the country,” he noted.

BEML's order book currently stood at Rs 16,000 crore, according to Roy. The company expects it to grow significantly in the second half of the fiscal, he added.

“I can see a further inflow of around Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 5000 crore in the coming three months up to the end of this financial year,” he said, adding that this will come from all the three segments including defence, mining, and rail and metro.

BEML recently received an order from the Ministry of Defence worth Rs 136 crore for high-mobility vehicles and battlefield surveillance systems.

Roy claimed that in the next three years, all the segments of the company will grow in terms of absolute revenue. 

“In the coming three years, I expect that rail and metro and defence put together will contribute around 65% to the top line and 30-35% will still keep coming from mining,” he said.

Shedding light on the finances of BEML, Roy said that the company does not have plans to raise any funds from outside but may fund its capital expenditure through debt.

“We don't have any debt at present. But, yes, for the capex, we are looking at funding our capex through debt,” he said, while adding that the intent is to bring down the working capital.

“We aim to bring down the working capital by 30%, in the current financial year and maybe a further 20% in the next year. The turnover of the company should be around five times the working capital,” he told NDTV Profit.

The BEML CMD also revealed the company’s ambitious plans to improve its margins to 16% on the back of strong orders, high-end mining equipment, aftermarket sales, exports and sustenance among others.

“We were at 11.97% (margin) in March 2024. This year, we should move to around 12.97% or 13%. In the coming three years, we should move to around 15% to 16%,” he said.

Shares of BEML on Friday closed 1.42% lower at Rs 4,402.45 apiece on the BSE, compared to a 1.04% climb in the benchmark Sensex.