Railways to declare quarterly numbers: Prabhu

Indian Railways will start declaring its quarterly numbers beginning with the three months ended June 2015, as part of the national transporter's journey towards corporatisation.

Announcing this at a meeting with private investors at a closed-door meeting at the BSE over the weekend, railway minister Suresh Prabhu said the railway's has invested Rs17,734 crore in April-June 2015 against the projected Rs13,231 crore, showing a 34 per cent jump in actual investment verses projected spending during the quarter.

Railways' total earnings in the first quarter of this fiscal rose 14.54 per cent, while working expenses grew at a slower pace of 4.22 per cent, against the projected 7.68 per cent growth during the quarter.

Indian Railways will require finances to the tune of Rs4,99,000 crore for project development for the full financial year.

The government has allocated Rs4,1646 as gross budgetary support for the fiscal while Rs17,93 crore will come through internal generation and Rs40,572 crore will come by way of Rs17655 crore of market funds, Rs17136 crore of institutional financing and Rs5,781 through public-private partnership.

Sharing the details of Indian Railways finances with foreign and domestic investors and bankers over the weekend, Prabhu said such huge investments would require financial participation by the private sector as well.

"It's for the first time any government-run organisation has declared its quarterly performance," Prabhu told the investors in a presentation.

Some of the major railway projects identified for early implementation include:

• The 108-km new line from Agra to Etawah and a new line from Tuna Port to Gandhidham in Gujarat commissioned during the Q1
• A 23-km stretch on the Lalitpur-Singrauli line and 122-km long gauge conversion project from Lohanu to Sikar in Rajasthan commissioned in the quarter;
• Doubling works of 150 km to de-congest the network, also commissioned during the period. The railways also completed electrification of 151 km network during the period.

Prabhu while rolling out the red carpet to investors asked them to replicate their success in telecom, power and road sectors as well as the Railways.