'Joint Venture with Russian TMH is Intact And Bank Guarantee Will Be Deposited In Time': RVNL

Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), which has formed a joint venture with the Russian rolling stock giant TMH for manufacturing 120 Vande Bharat trains at Latur, on Tuesday (20 June) said that the JV is intact and the mandatory bank guarantee will be deposited accordingly.

When asked to comment, TMH Press Service told Swarajya, "We do not comment on any negotiations process."

Reacting to the reports that due to the bickering between TMH and RVNL over issue of the majority stakes, Railways might be compelled to re-issue the tender after discharging the earlier one, RVNL has clarified in its latest filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that it is "factually incorrect".

Reiterating the latest status of the project, the Railways also maintained that there is time for depositing the bank guarantee till September and both TMH and RVNL have to sort out their share holding issue.

"As of now there is no such move to re-issue the tender again," said a senior Railway Ministry official involved in the Vande Bharat tendering process.

The TMH-RVNL had bagged the nearly Rs 40,000 crore project as the JV was the lowest bidder for manufacturing 120 Vande Bharat trains with sleeper facilities.

However, the contract ran into trouble with the junior partner RVNL claiming majority shares in the project, which was rejected by the TMH.

In order to defuse the crisis, Russian Ambassodor met the Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Trade Commissioner of the Russian Embassy also wrote a letter to the concerned authorities highlighting the terms and conditions of joint venture project.

"The news with respect to the breaking JV between RVNL and TMH is factually incorrect. The MoU between the parties (RVNL and TMH) is still valid as none of the parties have terminated the same," RVNL said in a communication to the BSE.

The RVNL further wrote, "The bank guarantee will be deposited well within the permissible time limits as per the tender condition. Further deliberations on the terms of MoU are underway, in case of any changes in the terms of MoU, the same shall be disseminated to the exchange by the company."

There is a requirement of submitting a bank guarantee of Rs 200 crore to the Railways. This is the first Vande Bharat project sleeper coaches for the over night journey on Rajdhani routes.