INDIA: A contract has been signed establishing the Lucchini India Pvt joint venture, which will supply the Indian market with wheels, axles and complete wheelsets for locomotives and main line and metro passenger vehicles.

Italian group Lucchini RS has a 55% stake, with the remaining 45% held by Bharat Connect. The agreement takes Lucchini into India under the fifth stage of an internationalisation process which has already see the creation of business in the UK, Sweden, Poland and China.

A €15m factory will be developed on a greenfield site in the state of Maharashtra, near Mumbai, with production starting towards the end of 2011. It will initially machine and assemble wheels and axles, with further developments planned as the Indian market develops.