Texmaco signs $2bn MoU for Israel light rail

A business delegation of the Adventz Group company is currently in Israel while Prime Minister Modi is on a three-day ground-breaking visit to the West Asian nation.

"During the visit, the company has entered into a non-exclusive MoU with Lesico Limited, Israel, for active co-operation between the two organisations to identify potential scope of works and activities in respect of upcoming Tel Aviv and Jerusalem LRT projects on a business case basis," the company said on Wednesday in a regulatory filing.

"The overall budget for the projects has been estimated at more than $2 billion," it added.

The engineering major said its expertise has been sought by Lesico for track-related work for the Tel Aviv Red-Line and Jerusalem Green-Line LRT projects.

"The partnership is a milestone and has widespread ramifications for the future. The MoU showcases Indian companies' ability to not just serve the nation but also take their expertise elsewhere in the world," Adventz Group Chairman Saroj Poddar said.

The Tel Aviv Red-Line will be the first section of light rail system in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area and will run in the northeast part of the capital city with a significant portion underground.

The Kolkata-based company's role involves laying of tracks, installation of signalling, electrification, power sub-stations and command, control and communication equipment.

"The partnership will prove to be a catalyst in furthering business ties with India," said Lesico Co-founder and Chairman Jechiel Leshman.

India and Israel on Wednesday signed seven agreements to increase cooperation in key sectors like space, agriculture and water conservation after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held in-depth talks with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed for setting up of $40 million worth India-Israel Industrial Research and Development (R&D) and Technical Innovation Fund.

Prime Minister Modi said, "we are of one view that together our scientists and researchers would develop, build and implement mutually beneficial solutions in the field".

"Our decision to establish a bilateral Technology Innovation Fund worth $40 million for research in industrial development will help us in achieving this goal.

"We regard thriving two-way trade and investment flows as the bedrock of a strong partnership. Prime Minister Netanyahu and I agreed on the need to do more in this direction.

Businesses on both sides should take primary lead in such efforts," he said.

In the water sector, two agreements were signed to increase cooperation on water conservation and state water utility reform in India.

Modi said that Israel is among the leading nations in the field of innovation, water and agricultural technology and "these are also among my priority areas in India's development".

"We agreed that efficiency of water and resource use; water conservation and its purification; productivity increases in agriculture are key areas in deepening our bilateral cooperation," he said.

In the agriculture sector, the two countries have agreed for India-Israel Development Cooperation - a three-year work programme in agriculture from 2018 to 2020.