State run Container Corporation of India (Concor) will start the process to manufacture its containers in India, which will result in a lower reliance on Chinese imports, Financial Express has reported.
Concor has commissioned Indian manufacturers BHEL and Braithwaite to develop 1,000 container prototypes each which will be tested by the end of this month.
Concor purchases around 8,000 containers per year, most of which are fulfilled by Chinese manufacturers at a cost of around Rs 200 crore. Concor will soon float an open tender for domestic manufacturers to supply the remaining 6,000 containers for this year.
“Our annual requirement will be around 8,000 containers for the next five years. We are going to float an open tender, inviting domestic manufacturers for this”, Concor CMD V Kalyana Rama has been quoted as saying.
Indian companies like Kalyani Cast Tech, Balmer Lawrie, Transafe and DCM Hyundai have already expressed an interest in supplying to Concor. They will be supplied with better grade steel by SAIL, Tata Steel and Jindal Steel.
India is also planning to emerge as a major player in the global container manufacturing market and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has already reached out to industry players to help realise this objective.
Source: Swarajya
