Texmaco Acquires Jindal Rail Infrastructure for Rs 615 Crore

Texmaco Rail & Engineering Limited has announced the acquisition of 100% shareholding of Jindal Rail Infrastructure Limited in a strategic move to expand its rolling stock business. Equity valued at (approx.) Rs 615 crore, the acquisition is the largest in the history of India’s rolling stock industry, and will significantly ramp up Texmaco’s manufacturing capacity, making Texmaco the largest producer of wagons in India. This acquisition arrives at an opportune moment given the surge in growth in India’s wagons industry, supplemented by the Government of India’s policy for dedicated freight corridors.

Texmaco, an Adventz Group company, is a market leader in wagons for the bulk transport of alumina, cement/fly ash, steel, fuels, chemicals, iron-ore (gondola wagons) as well as automobile-carrying wagons.

Jindal Rail, a Prithvi Raj Jindal group company, is known for designing and making high-quality railway freight car products. It specialises in designs of freight carriage such as the BFNV wagons for steel industry, as well as ACT1 for automobile carriage & more industry specific wagon designs are in the prototype stage. Jindal Rail has traditionally built a variety of commodity-specific, special-purpose wagons, components for coaches and locomotives, and has delivered over 8,600 wagons since its establishment in 2012. Its manufacturing facility spans over 123 acres in Vadodara, Gujarat, which churned out 1,650 wagons in the last fiscal year, with potential to multiply output.

Commenting on the acquisition, Mr Saroj Kumar Poddar, Chairman of Texmaco, said, “The Adventz Group has always been committed to participating in India’s development. The Jindal Rail acquisition will exponentially boost our participation in domestic and foreign markets, catalysing the nation’s economic growth.”

A merging of the capabilities of Texmaco and Jindal Rail will create a significant synergistic effect, letting Texmaco foray into new types of wagons, scale up production with minimal capex, amplify export capacity and effectively bolster competitive advantage. An excess of 60-acre of available land bank in Vadodara will power quick capacity expansion in allied businesses such as passenger mobility, while Texmaco’s expertise will allow vertical integration of operations.

 “We are ever focused on forming strategic alliances to boost growth and enhance synergies across the industry, and this low-risk acquisition is in line with our overarching vision,” observed Mr Indrajit Mookerjee, Vice Chairman.

The Jindal Rail acquisition is set to accelerate the transformation of the homegrown, Kolkata-headquartered Texmaco into a national player, as it begins operations in Western India, and eventually gathers pace towards becoming a global name in railways. “This acquisition will give Texmaco Rail a significant lead in the freight rolling stock market within the country and on the international rail freight industry map in the shorter term. This also throws open tremendous opportunities to boost participation in the whole railway rolling stock and component value chains, with a foray into newer product lines. We firmly believe that Texmaco Rail, with its expansion into western India, will be more emphatically contributing towards the Government’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat,” said Mr Sudipta Mukherjee, Managing Director.

Notably, Texmaco recently acquired a majority stake in Saira Asia, a global railway interior company. Another joint venture with Czech freight maker Nymwag is also powering ambitious expansion plans, with a new factory to open in Sodepur soon.