Former Director General of Press Information Bureau (PIB), Govt of India, Rajeev Kumar Jain on Wednesday said the government must take efforts to promote more and more Indian Companies in the infrastructure consultancy space to fully realize the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, more so when we are already promoting the manufacturing of train coaches in India.

Jain further said that Indian Railways and metro projects have embraced the "Make in India" philosophy by promoting local manufacturing of rolling stock, signaling systems, and other critical components. "This can be done so even for the infrastructure consultancy sector," said Jain who had a stint Rail, Civil Aviation and Urban Affairs and various ministries in his career spanning over 30 years.

He was addressing at the 4th Edition of Urban Infra Business Summit & Awards 2024, hosted by the Urban Infra Group. Anil Kumar Khandelwal, Former Member (Infrastructure), Railway Board, Ministry of Railways, Prof. Manoj Choudhary, Vice Chancellor, Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya, Ministry of Railways, I. Jeyakumar, IRTS, Member Secretary/Special Officer, CUMTA, Ajay Kumar Lal, Principal FA & CAO (Retd), Ministry of Railways and Rajesh Agrawal, Former Member Railway Board, were also present at the inaugural function.

Complimenting the Government for promoting Atmanirbhar Bharat, Jain said that the High-Speed Railway is a classic example of awarding the consultancy contract to all the Indian companies. "The project being highly technical and complex in nature, and being built for the first time in India, the Govt. has relied on all the Indian companies (Tata Consulting Engineers, Consulting Engineers Group for the job of project management consultancy. This makes a compelling case for the Govt. to do so in the other infrastructure consultancy works, particularly in metro sector," he stated.