State-run Container Corporation of India (Concor) on Friday said it will no longer depend on China for its requirements for containers and will meet its need for around 8, 000 containers from domestic manufacturers.
“As of now, all containers are imported because there is no manufacturing capability in India. We want to push India as a manufacturing hub for containers… Our requirement is 8,000 containers every year for the next five years. This is enough to support the start of manufacturing in India,” V Kalyana Rama, chairman and managing director of Concor, said at a press conference on Friday.
Concor, which spends about ₹200 crore annually on procurement of containers, has already given a developmental order for 1,000 containers each to Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) and Braithwaite & Co -- both public sector undertakings. Concor said it will soon issue tenders for the remaining 6,000 containers wherein only domestic firms will be able to participate as per certain government rules.
He added that it is important that containers made in India are globally competitive as there is a huge demand for containers in the global market. However, currently, there is a cost difference of about 25-30 per cent in containers made in India and abroad. “We need to see how we can reduce the cost of production to compete globally,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}He added that it is important that containers made in India are globally competitive as there is a huge demand for containers in the global market. However, currently, there is a cost difference of about 25-30 per cent in containers made in India and abroad. “We need to see how we can reduce the cost of production to compete globally,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}He also added that two companies are developing prototypes currently and testing results should be out by next month