Sum gains for five rail cos

Proposes 38 per cent hike in investment in state-run units at Rs 3,741 crore.

The railways have proposed a 38 per cent hike in the investment in their public sector undertakings (PSUs) at Rs 3,741 crore, compared to the last year’s outlay.

The five PSUs to get the sum are Indian Railway Finance Corporation, Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCC), Bhartiya Rail Bijlee Company Ltd and Bharat Wagon and Engineering Ltd. DFCC alone accounts for around half of the total investment estimate.

The proposed investment is, however, a fourth less than the Rs 4,900 crore proposed to be invested in PSUs in the Interim Budget in February. Gross budgetary support for the railways from the finance ministry is Rs 15,800 crore; the PSU investment will come from this head.

The minister has also proposed taking over of the rail wagon manufacturing units of Burn Standard, a government-run unit, to increase availability by 64 per cent, to 18,000 by the end of the current financial year.

“A dialogue has already been started with ministries concerned for waiver of accumulated liabilities. Efforts will be made to complete all action at the earliest, as the units are PSUs under the Ministry of Heavy Industries,” Banerjee said in her Budget speech.

The Budget has proposed a 15 per cent higher investment in wagon manufacturing in the current year, at Rs 3,616 crore, as compared to the investment proposed in the Interim Budget. Rail wagon availability had come down from 207,723 at the beginning of March 2007 to 204,034 in March 2008.

Banerjee also applauded the railway PSUs for recording a turnover of Rs 11,880 crore and a net profit of Rs 1,950 crore in 2007-2008. A total dividend payment of Rs 261 crore was made to Railways in the year.