Integral Coach Factory helps people stay connected in 14 countries

Ask any Chennaiite what ICF stands for and you will get the answer in a nanosecond. While the Integral Coach Factory in the city often makes news for the trains and the coaches it manufactures for the country, it’s the factory’s international trade that has been hiding in the shadows for a long time.

The leading coach manufacturer of Indian Railways, concealed in the urban wilderness called Perambur in north Chennai, began its global business with Thailand in 1967 — the first time it won an international order. And since then, there was no looking back. It has supplied coaches to eastern countries such as Philippines and Taiwan and to those in the west such as Nigeria and Angola (see box).

Though the monetary value of business done since 1955 has not been substantial (Rs 256 crore till 2016), the ICF has been helping people stay connected in 14 countries.

Only this month, it exported a 13-rake Diesel Electrical Multiple Unit (DEMU) to Sri Lanka. Another 60 coaches will be sent to Colombo soon. The ICF seems to be doing brisk business even when market leaders like Alstom and Bombardier have won big ticket projects even in ICF’s backyard. Also, even though it faces stiff competition from the Metro segment, it did not discourage the undertaking from carrying out business negotiations with a few countries in southeast Asia. RITES, an engineering enterprise of the union government, is currently acting on behalf of ICF to export a bulk consignment to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

“RITES Ltd is our liaison. Talks are under way between RITES and our international customers. Once the deal is through, we will start manufacturing the next batch,” a senior ICF official said.

Interestingly, the ICF does not work under the threat of a deadline, unlike any other vendor-consumer business deals. “Our trade agreement is diplomatic. We manufacture trains for them on credit at an interest rate lesser than what the World Bank offers. Hence, we get to carry out the work at our pace,” the official said.

ICF’s Achilles’ heel seems to be the Metro Rail segment. Not a single Metro Rail project executor in the country has had any association with the undertaking. Talking about its lone customer, Kolkata Metro Rail, ICF officials admitted that their rakes are only a sophisticated version of the conventional coach and is not at par with theAlstom manufactured Metro rakes shuttling between Chennai Central and the city airport.