Italian government may invest in Titagarh Wagons' subsidiary Firema

The government of Italy is seeking to acquire a stake in an Indian company, Titagarh Wagons' wholly-owned arm Firema. Titagarh is in the business of manufacturing coaches for the Indian railway.

According to our report, the Italian government investment promotion agency Invitalia might acquire a 20%-30% stake in Firema.

The Covid pandemic has made the world manufacturing sector suffer in various ways. Titagarh is also on the same path of countering the Covid challenges and discussing with the Italian government for financial assistance as monetarily it is strained due to the pandemic.

Umesh Chowdhary, the MD of Titagarh Wagons, said, "It is a breakthrough that the Italian government will pick up a stake, apart from a PE investor, in Firema."

"The promoters will also infuse fresh capital. We cannot disclose the details due to confidentiality clauses until all approvals are in place."

The Kolkata-India headquartered Titagarh Group took possession of Firema in 2015, which is associated with designing and manufacturing passenger rolling stock in the railway transport industry. The company commenced projects in Italy some time back.

Firema is also performing a crucial role in the building of India's first aluminium railway coach for the Pune Metro. During the previous fiscal year, Firema reported a loss of around €9 million. This incorporates a one-off unprecedented expenditure of €4.5 million due to operational refurbishment.

The Managing Director further added, "Legacy orders have impacted the firm. It currently has an order book of €500 million that is anticipated to be executed in the coming four to five years."