The joint venture (JV) between Russian transportation giant Transmashholding (TNH) and Indian public sector undertaking (PSU) Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) to manufacture Vande Bharat Express train sets, valued at nearly $3.63 billion (over ₹30,000 crore), has run into problems. The issue involves sanctions imposed on Russia, following the Russia-Ukraine war, by multiple countries that are spare parts suppliers for Vande Bharat trains.
The Indian Railways awarded the JV deal to the TMH-RVNL consortium after it emerged as the lowest bidder in March earlier this year. But TMH and RVNL are not able to see eye to eye on the majority shareholding issue for the JV, railway officials confirmed to The Hindu.
In the interest of smoother movement of the project, which requires TMH and RVNL to manufacture 120 Vande Bharat train sets, each costing nearly ₹120 crore, officials said that RVNL had requested majority shareholding from TMH. Sources say that TMH has not agreed to this and has also, as a result, not deposited the bank guarantee of nearly ₹200 crore required for the project to get started.
