State road transport undertakings on revival mode

SRTUs registered increased net profit and improvement in overall productivity in 2014-15

While the Union government is pushing states to open up the road transport sector to the private players, it seems that the State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs) have already started taking steps to improve efficiency and remain competitive in the changing scenario.

Not only the number of SRTUs registering net profit in 2014-15 increased but also the undertakings registered overall improvement in staff productivity, average occupancy ratio and overall vehicle productivity.

In 2014-15, out of the total 46 SRTUs, three registered net profit compared to one in the previous fiscal year. Also, 10 SRTUs registered profit before tax compared to nine in previous fiscal, according to a data compiled by transport research wing of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways

The net-profit making SRTUs were Odisha SRTC (Rs 5.15 crore ), Uttar Pradesh SRTC(Rs 2.48 crore) and Punjab State Bus Stand Management Co (Rs 2.41 crore).

The 10 SRTUs which registered profit before tax were Maharashtra SRTC (Rs 688.13 crore ), Gujarat SRTC (Rs 127.28 crore), Karnataka SRTC (Rs 114.42 crore ), North-Eastern Karnataka RTC (Rs 52.62 crore ), North-Western Karnataka RTC (Rs 48.13 crore ), Bangalore Metropolitan (Rs 46.17 crore ), Odisha SRTC (Rs 10.12 crore ) and Pepsu RTC (Rs 8.58 crore).

According to the data, Odisha SRTC (141.06 kms/staff/day) reported the highest level of staff productivity followed by PUNBUS (128.18 kms/staff/day) and Uttar Pradesh SRTC (127.23 kms/staff/day). The staff productivity is defined as the average revenue earning kilometres performed per worker per day.

Overall for all the SRTUs, the staff productivity increased from 56.4 kms/staff/day during 2013-14 to 58.7 kms/staff/day during 2014 – 2015. Out of the 46 reported SRTUs, 28 SRTUs showed an increase in staff productivity, while 16 SRTUs showed a decline in staff productivity.

While in 2013-14, out of the 44 reported SRTUs, 19 SRTUs showed an increase in productivity, while 25 SRTUs showed a decline in staff productivity.

Further, the net loss of the SRTUs increased by 6.2% during the year compared to 27% during 2013-14. As on March 2015, the net loss of the reporting SRTUs stood at Rs 10,810 crore while during the previous fiscal it was 10,178 crore.

Amongst the net loss making SRTUs, Delhi transport corporation was the largest at Rs 3,991.46 crore, followed by BEST Undertaking (Rs 846.47 crore) and Kerala SRTC (Rs 755.03 crore ). 

The average occupancy ratio increased from 68.1% during 2013-14 to 69.0% during 2014-15. The highest occupancy ratio of 98.5% was registered by Andaman and Nicobar. The lowest was that of Sikkim at 33.1%.

The average vehicle productivity, which is denoted by the number of kilometres performed by a bus per day, registered an increase to 312.9 kms/bus/day during 2014-15 from 306.6 during the corresponding period 2013-14.

The total number of passengers carried by the reporting SRTUs during 2014-15 was 2,54,290 lakh passengers which was 2.22% higher than the number of passengers carried during 2013-14.