Indian Railways’ Operating Ratio is Worst in 10 Years: CAG
Image for representational use only.Image Courtesy : NDTV
New Delhi: The Indian Railways' recorded an operating ratio of 98.44% in 2017-18, which is the worst in the previous 10 years, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said in a report tabled in Parliament on Monday.
A measure of expenditure against revenue, the operating ratio shows how efficiently the Railway is operating ratio and how healthy its finances are. An operating of 98.44% means that the Railways spent Rs 98.44 to earn Rs 100.
The national auditor in its report said that Railways would have ended up with a negative balance of Rs 5,676.29 crore instead of a surplus of Rs 1,665.61 crore but for the advance received from NTPC and IRCON.
"The Indian Railways' operating ratio at 98.44 per cent in 2017-18 was the worst in the last 10 years," the national auditor, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), said in a report tabled in Parliament on Monday.
"Exclusion of this advance would otherwise have increased the operating ratio to 102.66 per cent," the auditor said.
The Railways has also been unable to meet its operational cost of passenger services and other coaching services. Almost 95% of the profit from freight traffic was utilised to compensate for the loss on operation of passenger and other coaching services, it said.
The audit analysis of the finance accounts of Indian Railways revealed a declining trend of revenue surplus and the share of internal resources in capital expenditure. The net revenue surplus decreased by 66.10% from Rs 4,913.00 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 1,665.61 crore in 2017-18.
The share of internal resources in total capital expenditure also decreased to 3.01% in 2017-18.
"This had resulted in greater dependence on Gross Budgetary Support and Extra Budgetary Resources," the CAG said.
The CAG also recommended that Railways need to take steps to augment their internal revenues, so that dependence on gross and extra budgetary resources is contained.
"Under provisioning for depreciation is resulting in piling up of 'throw forward' of works concerning renewal of over aged assets. There is an urgent need to address this backlog and ensure timely replacement and renewal of old assets," it said.
It also advised the Railways to avoid creating new funds without any "justifiable reason".
Get the latest reports & analysis with people's perspective on Protests, movements & deep analytical videos, discussions of the current affairs in your Telegram app. Subscribe to NewsClick's Telegram channel & get Real-Time updates on stories, as they get published on our website.
