Rail Budget 2016: Suresh Prabhu is going to make money through non-fare sources

With no fare hike, increased expenditure and borrowing, many are wondering how Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu will turn his Rail Budget 2016 into reality.

During his rail budget speech, Prabhu said that the current revenue through non-fare sources is less than 5% and it will be increased to world average of 10% by next five years.

Well, it seems the minister was not talking in the air as he has innovative plans to raise capital.

1. Generating revenue by monetizing land: Prabhu has plans to lease out the land available adjacent to tracks to promote horticulture and tree plantation. Apart from generating employment, it will remove encroachment and may also be used for generating solar energy .

2. Advertisements: Indian Railways will focus on advertising on stations, trains and land adjacent to tracks.

3. Station redevelopment: This programme has been initiated to monetize land and buildings through commercial exploitation of vacant land and space rights over station buildings.

4. Soft assets: Data collected on passenger preferences, ticketing, commodity, train running on various services and operations will also be monetized. E-commerce initiatives will also be seen by IRCTC.

5. Parcel: Railways will revamp its parcel policies and increase the non-fare revenue.

6. Manufacturing: Increased productivity and better manufacturing will become important. It is aimed to generate annualized revenues of about Rs 4,000 crore by 2020.

(Image: Indiatimes)