India’s Ramkrishna Forgings Limited (RFL) has received maiden orders from state-run transporter Indian Railways (IR) for supplies of steel and stainless steel shells or bodies of locomotives, a company statement said on Tuesday, October 19.
The orders from IR come close on the heels of RFL completing diversification beyond its core operations of manufacturing steel forged components for automobiles and de-risking itself from the fluctuating fortunes of the automobile sector.
While the company did not disclose the order value of IR, it said that domestic manufacturing of shells or bodies of locomotives was valued at around $133 million per year.
“The order will also help us to improve capacity utilization for our new fabrication unit in Jamshedpur in eastern India, which in turn will lead to a better operating and financial performance in coming years,” RFL said.
“Our strategy to diversify into the non-auto segment with a special focus on the railway sector has once again been substantiated with this order,” it said.