The Indian Railways, seen as a crucial element of the Indian economy, draws renewed attention whenever the Union Budget is around the corner. Ahead of the fiscal roadmap to be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, key stakeholders are bullish on the outlook for the railways.
The expectations from the Budget 2026, with regards to the railways, is in-line with what the government has already been doing so far — boosting capital expenditure and focusing on infrastructure, according to Umesh Chowdhary, managing director of Titagarh Rail Systems
The Centre's push for Viksit Bharat and Atmanirbhar Bharat provides an opportunity for companies like Titagarh Rail, which play a crucial role in amping up the country's infrastructure. The revamped infrastructure accelerates the pace of manufacturing.
"One side we have a market opportunity, and the other side, Indian companies like us have a foothold in them because they have to be produced in India," Chowdhary said. However, he also underscored that while quantum of the budget is important, the allocation of that quantum is also pertinent.
"We must understand that on the railway side, budget can be divided two ways - the capacity creation budget and capacity utilisation budget," the Titagarh MD explained.
Chowdhary expects the allocation to be a long-lasting one and with no cuts on the overall capex. He also hopes there will be dedicated freight and high-speed corridors.
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ABB Order Win
Titagarh Rail also secured a big order win for driverless metro projects with ABB India Ltd. The latter is responsible for support design manufacture, commissioning, and transfer of technology for TCM 25kV AC metros. The deliveries also include traction converters, auxiliary converters, traction motors, and TCMS software, as per an exchange filing.
Commenting on the same, Chowdhary said, "Block by block we are trying to ensure that we have complete hold over the value chain of both types of metro trains that are used in India, that is, 750 V and 25 kV metro systems."
The company will be adding on to the product portfolio by doing the traction motors for metro coaches, and in turn, completing their product portfolio. This, according to Chowdhary, will give them a stronghold on the entire value chain of the metro business.
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