Jindal Stainless Aims To Ride Railways' Wagon Requirements

In line with the Centres vision to mandate use of stainless steel in coaches/wagons by 2020, Jindal Stainless aims to double its supplies and expects to meet almost 80 percent of the stainless steel requirement of Indian Railways (IR).

- Ritwik Sinha

“IR and Metro Rail Corporations procure stainless steel wagons and coaches worth nearly 2,500 crore. JSL, on an average, meets 70 percent of this order. This year alone, the railways are likely to procure 10,000-11,000 wagons. We hope to supply 80 percent share of the steel for it,” Vijay Sharma, Head of Sales at JSL, which is part of the Ratan Jindal Group, told Steel Insights.

At present, Jindal Stainless is supplying 35,000 tons (t) of stainless steel annually to wagon manufacturers, which is likely to touch 70,000 tons by end of financial year 2019-20 (FY20).

Stainless steel wagons, which are preferred for carrying mineral ores and coal, are fast replacing the old worn-out carriages. Currently, wagons account for about a fifth of railways’ annual stainless steel bill of 2,500 crore. This is set to go up to 3,500-4,000 crore by 2020.

The company has partnered with Railways to implement the Indian Railways’ plans to increase and ease wagon manufacturing in the country. It is now working with the Railways’ Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) to develop two wagon models. “Our R&D team, in collaboration with the RDSO, is working on developing two new wagon models – BOBRN and BOST, which will be lighter and have greater anti-wear and tear properties,” Sharma elaborated.

At present, the total number of wagons in the country is over 200,000. In the next 5 years.

The domestic market for stainless steel, pegged at 2.4 million tons (mt), has been growing at 9-10 percent over the last few years. This is likely to shoot up to 1314 percent per year going forward, largely due to demand from Railways and the advent of BS-VI norms in the automobile sector, which will increase use of stainless steel in automobile manufacturing from the current level of 1.2 lakh tons per annum.