Railways to declare quarterly nos; Q1 CAPEX soars 134%: Prabhu

In a first, the Railways has decided to declare its quarterly financial numbers for three months till June, which shows that the national transporter's capital expenditure soared a whopping 134 per cent to Rs 17,734 crore from the projected Rs 13,231 crore.

Minister Suresh Prabhu shared the details with foreign and domestic investors and bankers over the weekend at a closed door meeting at the BSE.

"It's for the first time any government-run organisation has declared its quarterly performance," Prabhu told the investors in a presentation, a copy of which has been seen by PTI.

Total earnings in Q1 rose 14.54 per cent, while working expenses grew at a measly 4.22 per cent, lower than the targeted 7.68 per cent growth during the reporting period.

The 108-km new line from Agra to Etawah and a new line from Tuna Port to Gandhidham in Gujarat were commissioned during the Q1, according to the presentation.

Similarly, a 23-km stretch on the Lalitpur-Singrauli line and 122-km long gauge conversion project from Lohanu to Sikar in Rajasthan were also commissioned in the reporting period.

Doubling works of 150 km to de-congest the network was also commissioned during the reporting period. Moreover, the Railways 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.

He said that the national transporter needs a whopping Rs 1 trillion funds this year and Rs 8.5 trillion over the next five years.

"You have successfully invested in the telecom and power and roads sector, but never in the Railways. The government also didn't invest during the past two decades. So we've chalked out a five-year plan under which we are looking at an investment of Rs 1 trillion this financial year and Rs 8.5 trillion over the next five years," Prabhu told the gathering.

Those attended the closed-door meeting at the BSE Tower included multinational i-bankers, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), domestic insurers like LIC and other financial institutions, sources said.