Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Despite efforts being taken by the Indian Railways (IR), its debt burden has increased in the last four years. The debt during the financial year 2019-20 was Rs 20,304 crore, which went up to Rs 23,386 crore in 2020-21. According to data shared by railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in Parliament, the debt rose from Rs 23,386 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 28,702 crore in 2021-22, registering a sharp increase of Rs 5,316 crore.
The margin of debt from 2019-20 to 2020-21 continued to the level of Rs 5,316 crore in 2021-22 from Rs 3,086 crore in 2020-21. The Railways raised extra-budgetary resources through the Indian Railway Finance Corporation, which is a public sector undertaking under the railway ministry, for financing the acquisition of rolling stock assets and the construction of other projects. Railway officials attribute the rise in debt to big projects.
In the same way, despite all-out efforts to enhance revenue through services and non-services resources, the Railways’ debt shot up to Rs 34,189 crore in 2022-23, putting an extra burden of Rs 9,487 crore. “We are working on a lot of mega projects and infrastructure development. Railways is also exploring various avenues for enhancing revenues from its internal services and resources to reduce the debt,” said a senior railway official.
The finance ministry had also provided a special loan of Rs 79, 398 crore for the Covid-related resources gap in 2020-21, when the Railways registered a sharp decline in income. Railways maintained that repayment of this special loan to the Ministry of Loan will start from the financial year 2024-25. Meanwhile, official sources said that as many as 189 new line projects involving 20,659 kilometres at Rs 3.99 lakh crore were in the pipeline. These are in the planning, sanction and construction stages as on April 1.
“We are under debt burden, but out of the 20,659 kilometres of new lines, 2,903 kilometres have already been revenue is the excess of the Railways’ receipts over expenditure or its ‘profits’. In FY2021-22, Rn commissioned at the cost of Rs 1.37 lakh crore till March 23 this year,” said a senior railway official. Earlier this year, a parliamentary standing committee on Railways expressed concern over the drastic fall in Railways’ net revenue.
Railways recorded a negative net revenue or loss of Rs 15,024.58 crore. In its Demands for Grants Report, the committee observed that the Railways’ net revenues have witnessed a drastic decline since 2020-21 except in 2014-15, when it witnessed an increase of 8.20 per cent. “During the last five years, with effect from 2018-19 onwards, the revised estimates were reduced to more than 50 per cent and the actuals were far behind RE in all these years,” the panel noted.
NEW DELHI: Despite efforts being taken by the Indian Railways (IR), its debt burden has increased in the last four years. The debt during the financial year 2019-20 was Rs 20,304 crore, which went up to Rs 23,386 crore in 2020-21. According to data shared by railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in Parliament, the debt rose from Rs 23,386 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 28,702 crore in 2021-22, registering a sharp increase of Rs 5,316 crore.
The margin of debt from 2019-20 to 2020-21 continued to the level of Rs 5,316 crore in 2021-22 from Rs 3,086 crore in 2020-21. The Railways raised extra-budgetary resources through the Indian Railway Finance Corporation, which is a public sector undertaking under the railway ministry, for financing the acquisition of rolling stock assets and the construction of other projects. Railway officials attribute the rise in debt to big projects.
In the same way, despite all-out efforts to enhance revenue through services and non-services resources, the Railways’ debt shot up to Rs 34,189 crore in 2022-23, putting an extra burden of Rs 9,487 crore. “We are working on a lot of mega projects and infrastructure development. Railways is also exploring various avenues for enhancing revenues from its internal services and resources to reduce the debt,” said a senior railway official.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
The finance ministry had also provided a special loan of Rs 79, 398 crore for the Covid-related resources gap in 2020-21, when the Railways registered a sharp decline in income. Railways maintained that repayment of this special loan to the Ministry of Loan will start from the financial year 2024-25. Meanwhile, official sources said that as many as 189 new line projects involving 20,659 kilometres at Rs 3.99 lakh crore were in the pipeline. These are in the planning, sanction and construction stages as on April 1.
“We are under debt burden, but out of the 20,659 kilometres of new lines, 2,903 kilometres have already been revenue is the excess of the Railways’ receipts over expenditure or its ‘profits’. In FY2021-22, Rn commissioned at the cost of Rs 1.37 lakh crore till March 23 this year,” said a senior railway official. Earlier this year, a parliamentary standing committee on Railways expressed concern over the drastic fall in Railways’ net revenue.
Railways recorded a negative net revenue or loss of Rs 15,024.58 crore. In its Demands for Grants Report, the committee observed that the Railways’ net revenues have witnessed a drastic decline since 2020-21 except in 2014-15, when it witnessed an increase of 8.20 per cent. “During the last five years, with effect from 2018-19 onwards, the revised estimates were reduced to more than 50 per cent and the actuals were far behind RE in all these years,” the panel noted.
