Railways to borrow Rs 15,103 cr from market in current fiscal

The railways will borrow Rs 15,103 crore from the market in 2013-14, marginally higher than Rs 15,000 crore borrowings in the current financial year.

The estimated market borrowing would help the railways to finance its highest ever plan outlay of Rs 63,363 crore.

"The Plan is proposed to be financed through Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) of Rs 26,000 crore, Railways share in Road Safety Fund of Rs 2,000 crore, internal resources of Rs 14,260 crore, market borrowings of Rs 15,103 crore and an expected mobilisation of Rs 6,000 crore through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) route," Railways Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said in his rail budget speech.

For the current financial year, the railways had Extra Budgetary Resources of Rs 16,050 crore, which included market borrowing of Rs 15,000 crore through Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC).

"I have increased the outlay for doubling of tracks, safety and passenger and staff welfare from about Rs 11,410 crore in 2012-13 to Rs 13,220 crore, an increase of 16%," Bansal said.

The freight earning target has been increased by 9% to Rs 93,554 crore and the number of passengers is expected to increase by 5.2%, the minister said.

Bansal, who is the first Congress minister to present a Railway Budget in the last 17 years, today spared passengers from any further hike in fares but raised various other charges on tickets along with freight tariff of less than 5%.

 In January, the Minister had effected an across-the-board hike in passenger fares that would net Rs 6,600 crore a year.     However, the subsequent hike in diesel price and electricity charges put an additional burden of Rs 3,300 crore on the railways which is projected to see a loss of Rs 24,600 crore in the current financial year, up from Rs 22,500 crore in 2011-12 in passenger traffic segment.