JAPANESE steel and engineering companies are in the driver’s seat to bag US$17 billion in Indian bullet train contracts, which would undermine Delhi’s “Make in India” initiative, according to a Reuters report.

Japan is funding most of the project, and Japanese companies are likely to supply at least 70 percent of the core components of the rail line, said five sources in New Delhi with direct knowledge of the matter.

A Japanese transport ministry official involved in the project said the two countries were still working out a strategy for the supply of key components, and would unveil a plan for procurements around July.

The September 2017 agreement between Japan and India for the bullet train project included two clauses, namely, the promotion of “Make in India” and “Transfer of Technology,” through which New Delhi had hoped to set up manufacturing facilities in the country, generate jobs and get a toehold in Japanese technology.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces a general election in 2019 and is under pressure to provide more jobs to millions of unemployed in India. Critics also say the bullet train is wasteful and that the money could be better used elsewhere.

“The Japanese have reservations on certain issues because they have a concern that there is a difference in the culture and systems of Japan from the culture and systems in India,” said Achal Khare, the managing director of National High Speed Rail Corp. Ltd. (NHSRCL), the agency tasked to execute the bullet train project.

“The work culture is very different,” he told Reuters. Khare did not elaborate but two Indian railways officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said their Japanese counterparts had raised questions about efficiency in Indian companies and their ability to meet timelines.

The World Bank currently ranks India 100th out of 190 nations on the ease of doing business, giving it relatively low marks for starting a business, enforcing contracts and dealing with construction permits.

Tomoyuki Nakano, director for international engineering affairs in the railway bureau at Japan’s transport ministry, said the issue was that Indian companies had no experience or technologies specializing in high-speed railway systems at present.

“I don’t think Japanese are concerned about a difference in the work culture,” Nakano said. He and other Japanese officials said efforts were continuing to fulfill the “Make in India” component of the agreement by promoting collaborations between companies from the two countries. (SD-Agencies)