General Electric Company said on Monday that it planned to pump in $8 billion within three years for infrastructure projects in India.
The company evinced interest in the modernisation and expansion of railways and has approached the Centre with a proposal to provide assistance in areas like signaling, freight corridor and real estate development along stations.
?We are interested in the upgradation plans of railways and are keen to partner them in their venture for freight corridors, real estate development, signalling and locomotives,? Dhananjay Nalawade, president and CEO of GE?s Equipment Services, told FE here.
According to Nalawade, most of the $ 8-billion funding would be for areas such as port development, warehouses and power plant equipments, besides railways.
The railways plans to build two freight tracks on one of the two busiest routes of the country. The first will connect Mumbai to Delhi and the other will likely run between Ludhiana and Kolkata. The modernisation plan of the railways are estimated to be around Rs 1-lakh crore.
GE Equipment also said it purchased a 15% stake in railway wagon manufacturer Titagarh Wagons. ?We have made a strategic investment in Titagarh Wagons to make railway infrastructure. This is our first equity investment in the transport sector,? Nalawade added.
Many foreign firms are vying for a slice of railways? modernisation projects.
French rail transport equipment company Alstom recently said it was keen to be a part of railways? development and its representatives had also met railways minister Lalu Prasad Yadav over the issue.