New Delhi, Aug 14 (KNN) Minister for Railways, Coal, Finance & Corporate Affairs, Piyush Goyal impressed on the American delegation that Make-in-India would make many of the products competitive in India.

He said it would give them a platform for the global market. 

Speaking at the roundtable discussion with a high level delegation of leading US companies working in the area of railway construction, maintenance and information technology, Minister directed that the issues raised by US companies in respect of fast-track clearance at RDSO, third party certification and clarity on GST, etc. would be examined by Railway Board and resolved/clarified.

He also thanked the US Embassy and the companies for the excellent presentations and directed that a detailed examination of how they would meet our requirement at competitive costs be carried out.

High-ranking US Embassy officials from US Commerce Services and US Trade Development Agency (USTDA) participated in the India-US roundtable discussion.

The delegation comprising of 13 companies was led by US Ambassador to India H.E. Kenneth I. Juster.

Besides, Chairman Railway Board, Shri Ashwani Lohani, other Railway Board Members and senior officials also participated in the discussion.

Presentations made by the companies covered a large range of products and services such as energy efficiency, anti-corrosion coating, fire protection, use of high-speed internet/cloud computing for Railway Passenger Reservation and passenger experience, composite sleepers for bridges, turn-out Lap switches, road crossings, tunnels, wagon-leasing, rolling stocks manufacture, track laying and maintenance machines, signaling, rail-flaw detection, modern method of construction of bridges, etc. 

The US Ambassador thanked Goyal for the prompt action taken on his request to give a platform to US technology companies working in the area of Rail Transport to showcase their expertise.

He stressed the need for a continuous dialogue to advance the common interests in finding innovative solutions to technological problems in Railways.

He also highlighted the need for adoption of a life-cycle cost so that durable and innovative technologies can be incentivized.

Chairman Railway Board assured that an indicative three-year program for works and procurement would be attempted by Railways. This would help the industry to make their preparation in advance.

Annual Works/Procurement Program would, however, be subject to annual budgetary cycle, he added.