Jharkhand’s largest industry hub Adityapur, which was so long known for auto ancillaries, can now look forward to becoming a vendor zone for railway and defence sector companies.

An industry department official, Anwarul Haque, who looks after investment promotion revealed that 70 MSMEs had evinced interest in becoming vendors and had rushed queries to the Ordnance Factories Board under the Union ministry of defence.

Sanjay Ghosh, spokesperson for South Eastern Railway that had put up a stall at the vendor development programme, said they were looking at new partners too. “Several MSMEs have initiated talks with us. They want to know about online registration and other nitty-gritty of applying for railway tenders,” he said.

The two-day event, which concluded at Adityapur Auto Cluster around 5km from here on Thursday, was organised by the state in association with Adityapur Small Industries Association (ASIA) and supported by the Union railway and defence ministries.

The mascot of Momentum Jharkhand at the entrance of the vendor programme venue. Picture by Animesh Sengupta

The industry department called the maiden vendor development meet a success. “It offered local MSMEs great opportunities. It will reduce their dependence on Tata Motors, which being a cyclic company (a type of industry that is sensitive to business cycle) witnesses ups and downs, and that in turn affect ancillary profits,” said an official, requesting anonymity.

Subhashree Bhattacharya, a commercial executive of Industrial Forge and Engineering Company, said the meet helped MSMEs like them know a lot more about railway requirements.

“We have initiated talks with Railway Coach Factory and South Eastern Railway for supplying safety components meant for LHB (Linke-Hofmann Busch) coaches,” she said, adding that her company was also interested in doing business in the defence sector.

Sources said Jamshedpur Spring and Engineering Private Limited, a supplier of engineering products to various automobile industries, had also had positive interactions regarding railway contracts.

Industry secretary K. Ravi Kumar said the vendor programme, which was a part of Momentum Jharkhand, had brought Adityapur MSMEs and railway and defence sector companies on a common platform for business promotion and industrial development in the region.

President of ASIA Inder Agarwal said, “The deliberations at the two-day meet focussed on meeting railway and defence sector requirements from Adityapur industrial area, which has around 1,200-odd units. The event helped local industries to showcase their potential.”