Discrepancy in budget numbers

The first railway budget of the Narendra Modi government offered some figures for financial year 2013-14 that raised many questions.

The revised budget estimates projected an operating ratio of 90.8 per cent which according to actuals deteriorated to 93.5 per cent, said Railway Minister D V Sadananda Gowda in his budget speech. Operating ratio represents the amount of money the Railways spends to earn Rs 100 - the lower the better.

However, no other budget document tabled by the Ministry of Railways in Parliament presented an operating ratio of 93.5 per cent, including the explanatory memorandum which only had revised estimates. The explanatory memorandum is a detailed account of railway finances.

Even the surplus projections for the financial year 2014-15 were in contradiction. The railway minister mentioned in the speech that for the current financial year (2014-15) the surplus generated will be just Rs 600 crore. This is in clear contradiction to the figures in the explanatory memorandum. The excess presented in the memorandum expects Rs 6,062 crore as the surplus.