Railway earnings at 10-year worst: CAG report

New delhi date. December 2, 2019, Monday

The earnings of Indian Railways have reached their lowest level in the last 10 years. The operating ratio of the railways has reached 98.44% in 2017-18, meaning that the railway has to spend Rs 98.44 to earn 100 rupees.

According to the CAG report, the earnings of Indian Railways are currently at the lowest level of the last 10 years and the operating ratio of the Railways has reached 98.44% in 2017-18. It is very easy to understand the position of the railway from the operating ratio statistics. The operating ratio data for 2017-18 directly means that the Railways is not earning even two per cent on all its resources.

Operating expense was 7.63 per cent last year and the highest growth rate was 10.29 per cent as compared to the previous year. The CAG's report recommends measures to increase the internal revenue of the railways to prevent dependence on gross and additional budgetary resources.

The report said the Railways could not utilize the funds collected under IBR-IF in the last two years to ensure that the Railways fully utilized the funds available from the market. At the same time, it has been recommended to reduce the capital expenditure of railways during the current financial year.

As per the report, the operating ratio of railways was 90.48 percent in 2008-09, which was 95.28 percent in 2009-10, 94.59 percent in 2010-11, 94.85 percent in 2011-12, 90.19 percent in 2012-13, 93.6 percent in 2013-14, 91.25 percent in 2014-15, 2015- 90% recorded 16.4%, 96.5% in 2016-17 and 98.44% in 2017-18.