Wikileaks US Embassy cables show that General Electric and US Government lobbied for Marhowra diesel locomotive factory Project which was tailor-made for General Electric

26 December 2006	US Embassy New Delhi - Cable reference id: #06NEWDELHI8511 Senator Specter Meeting With P.m. Singh “Senator Specter mentioned how impressed he was with the development he had witnessed in early legs of his visits to the southern cities of Cochin and Bangalore. Still, he wanted to pass on concerns from some of his Pennsylvania constituents about outsourcing of jobs from the U.S. to India. Singh noted that one of the many positive aspects of the civil-nuclear deal would be increased opportunities for U.S. firms such as Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse to compete for major nuclear energy deals. Specter, smiling, reminded Singh that General Electric also had operations in Erie, Pennsylvania. Singh also acknowledged, however, that India still could strengthen its market economy by focusing more on removing bureaucratic obstacles. Specter asked if India could develop at the same pace as China, whose leaders he acknowledged could at times be quite ruthless in their push to develop. Singh answered that while reforms might be slower in a democracy, but that when change occurs, it was more durable.”
22 Feb 2007	Issue of justification for the ELF (Electric Locomotive Factory) and DLF (Diesel Locomotive Factory) Projects Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved Railway proposal to set up ELF and DLF. This approval and the basis for this approval have not been placed on the court record by the Railway Ministry. According to Railway Ministry affidavit dated 14 January 2013 in reply to CM 19501/ 2012, there is a CCEA note justifying the need for DLF and ELF and the need for new manufacturing capacity for diesel and electric locomotives. This note has not been produced on record. Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia is a member of the CCEA. The genesis of these Projects is a recommendation by Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia at the behest of General Electric.
28 Sep 2007	US Embassy New Delhi - Cable reference id: #07NEWDELHI4419 New Delhi Weekly Econ Office Highlights For September 24-28, 2007 “The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has proposed to offer loans at attractive rates to build Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) in India subject to two preconditions: (1) both east (Delhi-Kolkata) and west (Delhi-Mumbai) corridors are electrified and (2) electric locomotive manufacturing in India is established under public private partnerships (PPPs) with Japanese manufacturers. While India certainly welcomes Japanese assistance in developing railway corridors (as GOI has done with other infrastructure development projects - most notably the Delhi metro), USG is advocating that the above two preconditions are simply not sound economics. ¶7. (U) The Indian Railways has asked the GOI to not electrify the Western DFC since it is likely to handle a lot of container traffic from Indian ports and northern Indian cities to Delhi which necessitates double stack and triple stack container operations. Such operations require significantly higher investment (approximately five more times) when run on electrified lines versus non-electrified lines. INDIAN RAILWAYS SEEK PPPS FOR MANUFACTURING DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES ------------------------- ¶8. (SBU) GE Rail estimates that Indian Railways faces an annual deficit of 500 to 700 diesel locomotives - above and beyond the country's current diesel locomotive manufacturing capacity. GE also notes that the Indian Railways, through its production arm of Diesel Loco Works (DLW), has the capacity to manufacture about 150 to 200 diesel locomotives per year or 1,000 trains in the next five years. Given the apparent shortfall and expected future demand, Indian Railways is seeking to enter into a PPP joint venture for the establishment of a new greenfield locomotive manufacturing facility in India (rumored to be in Bihar, Railways Minister Lalu Prasad's home state). GE anticipates taking a 74 percent stake in this joint venture and thereby, maintaining operational control. This order is valued at approximately USD 4 billion. ¶9. (SBU) In order to meet Indian Railways' short-term locomotive needs, GE envisions several phases, whereby a first phase launch order of 50 fully assembled locomotives would be shipped from its manufacturing hub in Erie, PA. The second phase would entail 450 locomotive kits to be sourced from Erie and assembled in-country. After which, any remaining orders would be processed at the new locomotive manufacturing facility in India. Even after this plant is fully operational, GE still anticipates that certain core equipment, like the rail traction and braking systems, would still be sourced from Erie along with other maintenance and service work. GE estimates this commercial opportunity at USD 1.3 billion with approximately USD 520 million in U.S. content (goods and parts imported from the United States). ¶10. (SBU) GE foresees competition from Transmash (Russia), Dalian (China), QSY (China), and EMD (LaGrange, Illinois). GE also expects Indian Railways to release a similar tender for the establishment of a new electric locomotive facility. As such, GE anticipates that the Europeans and the Japanese will be lobbying Indian Railways to increase the number of electric locomotives.”
11 Dec 2007	US Embassy New Delhi - Cable reference id: #07NEWDELHI5280 Railway Minister Lalu Reaffirms Support For Nuclear Deal But Wants Political Consensus “Yadav updated the Ambassador about his efforts to continue upgrading India's railroads. The Ambassador mentioned that two U.S. firms were interested in constructing a diesel locomotive factory. … The Ambassador commended Yadav on his success in turning around Indian Railways. Yadav said that he operated the Railways according to three words: "faster, heavier and longer." "Each word is worth two billion dollars," he asserted. Yadav said that he hoped to capture more of the freight market, 60 percent of which still travels by truck, by constructing a dedicated freight corridor from Delhi to Mumbai and Ludhiana to Calcutta. The Ambassador conveyed that two U.S. firms have expressed interest in building a new diesel locomotive factory in Bihar, and encouraged Yadav to ensure that the corridor would be diesel. Yadav replied that Japan's assistance will mean that the eastern corridor will likely be electric. That still leaves the western corridor, however, on which he planned to operate double-stacked containers on flat wagons using diesel. He related that his staff had traveled to China to see their double-stacked cars operating on electric rail, but they had a 30 percent lower capacity because they were not flat. Yadav also boasted that Indian Rail has recently increased the train length to 58 cars carrying a total of 4000 tons, nearly double the 2300 tons they carried before. Indian Rail had even experimented with 116 cars, he revealed. … Lalu was attended by four key RJD Members of Parliament (MPs) and senior Rail Ministry bureaucrat, who greatly amplified the Minister's thoughts as expressed in workable, heavily accented English.”
26 April 2008	RFQ issued for Marhowra diesel locomotive factory Project
1 Aug 2008	Issue of General Electric having access to unreleased Bid Documents in 2008 Reproduced below is an email that the petitioner received from Ms Ruby Anand on March 9, 2010 forwarding five pdf files that were sent to her by Ms Praveena Yagnambhat (from General Electric) on August 1, 2008. Ms Ruby Anand has in the past served as General Counsel for General Electric in India for about 10 years. The documents attached to this email were the following:                                             i.            11th July 2008 D Loco Land Lease Agreement                                           ii.            11th July 2008 D Loco Maintenance Contract                                         iii.            11th July 2008 D Loco Procurement Contract                                         iv.            11th July 2008 D Loco RFP Document                                           v.            11th July 2008 D Loco Shareholders Agreement The email from Ms Ruby Anand read:  “From: Ruby Anand <rubysdesk@gmail.com> Date: Tue, Mar 9, 2010 at 8:35 PM Subject: See the 5th doc for now - the Loco RFP -issued earlier To: Seema Sapra <seema.sapra@googlemail.com> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Yagnambhat, Praveena (GE Infra, Transportation) <praveena.yagnambhat@ge.com> Date: Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 4:10 PM Subject: Loco RFP To: Ruby Anand <rubysdesk@gmail.com> Dear Ruby Attached please find a soft copy of the Loco RFP. Please let me know if you are unable to open any of the files. Regards Praveena Yagnambhat GE Infrastructure -  India Phone : +91 11 4155 5317 Fax :     +91 11 2335 5969 -- Ruby Ruby Anand C-4/7 Safdarjung Development Area New Delhi- 110016 India Mobile - +91-9811082215” A printout of the pdf file - 11th July 2008 D Loco RFP Document – which the petitioner received from Ms Ruby Anand on March 9, 2010 has been attached as Annexure P-2 to the rejoinder affidavit filed by the petitioner on July 23, 2012. This document is the Railway Ministry draft RFP for the 2008-2009 tender for the diesel locomotive factory Project at Marhowra.  Similarly, the other four documents attached to Ms Ruby Anand’s email dated March 9, 2010 are all Indian Railways draft documents for the 2008-9 tender for the Marhowra locomotive factory Project.   The RFP for the Marhowra Project tender in 2008 was not issued by the Railways Ministry until the 22 September 2008. So how did General Electric have in its possession on August 1, 2008, the draft documents for the 2008-2009 Marhowra Project tender? How did General Electric get access to these documents on or before August 1, 2008? These internal Railway Ministry documents (still in draft form) were obviously obtained by General Electric illegally before they were officially finalised and released publicly. This evidence confirms the complaints of corruption against General Electric. General Electric needs to disclose how it came into possession of these confidential documents. How were these documents leaked to General Electric?  The affidavit filed by the Railway Ministry in response to CM 19501/ 2012 does not offer any explanation about how General Electric came to possess a copy of the draft RFP on 1 August 2008, when this RFP was formally released to Bidders only on 22 September 2008. All that this affidavit dated 14 January 2013 filed by the Railway Ministry in response to CM 19501/ 2012 (in volume 13 of the court record) states on this issue is the following: “It is pertinent to note that any RFP document is one which is discussed, deliberated and finalized after discussion with several stakeholders and consultants.” No explanation has been provided by the Railway Ministry as to how General Electric had in its possession the draft Bid Documents for the ELF tender on 1 August 2008, before these were released to the two Bidders, EMD and General Electric. The statement in the Railway affidavit that “It is pertinent to note that any RFP document is one which is discussed, deliberated and finalized after discussion with several stakeholders and consultants” is an attempt to cover up the fact that General Electric had in its possession, the draft Bid Documents before they were officially/ formally released/ shared with either General Electric or EMD. This provides evidence that the DLF Project have been created/ tailor-made at the behest of and for General Electric. General Electric has since 2008 influenced the bid documents to ensure that a commercially lucrative contract and opportunity is created for itself using their contacts/ agents within the Indian government (like Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia).  The role of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the role of his close aide Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and the role of other officials from the PMO and the Planning Commission in creating these suspect Projects for General Electric and in interfering in the bid process and the bid documents with intent to help General Electric secure the DLF Project requires to be investigated.
3 Oct 2008	US Embassy New Delhi - Cable reference id: #08NEWDELHI2645 New Delhi Weekly Econ Office Highlights For The Week Of September 29 To October 3, 2008 “TWO LARGE RAILWAY PROJECTS WITH US INVOLVEMENT CHUGGING FORWARD … MAJOR RAILWAY TENDER TO BE AWARDED TO ONE OF TWO US FIRMS CHUGGING FORWARD --------------------------------------- ¶7. (U) The GOI decided last week to release the Request for Proposal for a $5 billion diesel locomotive project, which will be awarded to one of two American firms. Globally only GE and EMD produce diesel locomotives; they are, therefore, the only bidders on the project to supply 1000 diesel locomotives and build a locomotive factory in Bihar. The RFP includes $3 billion for equipment to be procured over 10 years, with production gradually shifting to the new Indian plant. The remaining $2 billion will go towards maintenance and service of the locomotive fleet. Awarding the project is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2009.”
31 Oct 2008	US Embassy New Delhi - Cable reference id: #08NEWDELHI2826 New Delhi Weekly Econ Office Highlights For The Week Of October 27 To October 31, 2008 “JBIC TO FUND THE WESTERN DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDOR … India is the largest beneficiary of JBIC funding (6.5% share or $13.2 billion), with an overall loan portfolio of $184.4 billion. JBIC agreed to financially support the DFC project after the Indian Railways relented and decided to electrify the western freight corridor. Electrification of both the Eastern and Western freight corridors limits the ability of U.S. business to participate as they are not competitive in the electric locomotive/rolling stock market.”
10 Feb 2009	Issue of tailor-made DLF Project and tenders and issue of illegal lobbying by General Electric The petitioner draws the attention of this court to a public statement made by Mr. John Rice, Vice Chairman of General Electric Company in connection with the Madhepura and Marhowra Projects during an investor meeting on February 10, 2009. Mr John Rice stated: “We are also competing for the India rail tender, which will be announced over the next two or three weeks. This is a project that has been 10 years in the making, and will be all of the diesel electric locomotive requirements for India over the next 10 years. So it's a very big tender, significant when you add services. It is about $6 billion and a great opportunity for us.” In this statement, Mr John Rice has disclosed that the Marhowra Projects which is the subject matter of one of the impugned tenders in this writ petition “has been 10 years in the making, and will be all of the diesel electric locomotive requirements for India over the next 10 years.” This recorded statement of Mr John Rice (Vice Chairman at General Electric Company) is an admission that General Electric has lobbied for “the making” of this DLF Project for ten years and that the Project, the impugned tender for this Project, the earlier 2008 tender for the same Project, as well as the new 6 May 2013 tender/ RFQ for the same Project, have been tailor-made for General Electric to hand over to it on a platter the “great” business opportunity that is present in “all of the diesel electric locomotive requirements for India over the next 10 years.”
16 February 2009	Financial bid for DLF tender received from GE Global Sourcing India Private Limited. EMD, also shortlisted did not bid. General Electric’s bid was found to be non-responsive and the tender was discharged.
11 Jun 2009	US Embassy New Delhi - Cable reference id: #09NEWDELHI1211 Fs Menon And U/s Burns Discuss New Strategic Dialogue Architecture And Bilateral Issues “At Burns' request, Menon promised to follow up on the tender won by General Electric to build a railroad locomotive plant in Bihar, which had been canceled at the last cabinet meeting before the elections.”