It has been continuous endeavor of Indian Railway to associate more and more Industry partners with its supply chain and steps had been taken in this direction to enhance ease of doing business for industry. These steps have not only made processes transparent, efficient and easy but also reduced cost of doing business for industry.

A unified Vendor Approval System for single-interface approval of vendors is also implemented which provides vendors with complete single-window online process for vendor approval starting from submission of application stage to payments, communication and final approvals. It also provides vendors with free online access to all the related details, drawings and specifications and tracking of the vendor application status online. It reduces number of touchpoints where a vendor interacts with the approving agency.

Railway has taken one more decision in this direction by reducing the vendor application fee that was being taken for applying for approval of vendor with RDSO for identified safety items. Vendor application fee for RDSO approval was Rs 2.5 Lakhs for other than MSME and RS 1.5 lakhs for MSME. It has now been reduced from Rs 2.5 lakhs to Rs 15000/- and Rs 1.5 lakhs to Rs 10000/- Special provision of lower fee is kept to encourage MSMEs.

This initiative shall further reduce the cost of business for industry and give impetus to Make in India. It will also benefit Railway by attracting more vendors in its supply chain.

***

RKJ/M