Lok Sabha Question No. 3640 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-17
Subject: Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Railway Revenue
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Bhartruhari Mahtab

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3640 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17.03.2021

## IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON RAILWAY REVENUE

3640. SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether a shortfall has been reported in the revenue earned vis-à-vis its target by the Railways from passengers and freight during each of the last three years and the current year;
- (b) if  so, the details thereof, Zone-wise and the reasons therefor along with the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on revenue of Railways;
- (c) whether Railways have incurred huge losses on account of underutilisation of Railways Cargo Services in the country during the said period;
- (d) if  so, the details thereof, Zone-wise and the reasons therefor along with contribution of each Zone to the losses incurred/profit earned by the Railways during the said period, Zone-wise; and
- (e) the  steps  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  to  improve  the profitability  of  the  Railways  and  mitigate  the  impact  of  COVID-19 pandemic on revenue of Railways?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMERCE & INDUSTRY AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

- (a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

*****

STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3640 BY SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB TO BE ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  17.03.2021  REGARDING  IMPACT  OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON RAILWAY REVENUE.

(a) & (b) : Yes, Sir. The zone-wise revenue receipts under Passenger and Goods segments during the last three years and the current year position upto February, 2021 vis-a-vis the targets (Revised Estimates) is appended. In 2020-21, to end of February, 2021 total traffic revenue have declined by ` 38,323.25  crore  compared to corresponding period of last year due to the adverse impact of COVID 19 pandemic, consequential lockdown and partial operation of passenger  services. The  year-wise  reasons  for shortfall is given hereunder:

## 2017-18

-  Drop in originating passengers - in non-suburban segment and drop in average sub-urban lead in actuals vis-a-vis RE.
-  less loading in Actuals vis-a-vis Revised Estimates (RE).
- 
- Very low growth in other coaching revenue
-  Remittance  of  dividend  receipts  from  Railway  PSUs  to  General Revenues which hitherto used to be part of Railways' sundry revenue and lesser mobilisation under land monetisation.

## 2018-19

-  Drop  in  originating  passengers  and  in  average  passenger  lead  in actuals vis-a-vis RE
- 
- Low growth in other coaching revenue
- 
- Non-materialisation of revenue target from land monetisation.

## 2019-20

-  Adverse impact of Covid 19 pandemic and consequent lockdown on Railway operations
-  Drop in average passenger lead
-  Shortfall in loading vis-a-vis RE target
-  Refund adjustment of over ` 2,000 cr in Sundry revenue to RLDA.

## 2020-21

-  Adverse impact of Covid 19 pandemic and consequent lockdown on Railway operations
-  Complete  shutdown  of  passenger  services  during  the  lock  down period and subsequent partial operations of passenger trains

(c) & (d) :  During the lockdown period following the outbreak of COVID-19 in  March  2020,  freight  movement  was  affected  due  to  the  decline  in demand and disruption in the road transportation and labour services at loading and unloading terminals. However, Railways managed to keep the movement  of  essential  transportation  uninterrupted  ensuring  that  there was no shortage of coal for power plants and other essential commodities like  foodgrains,  fertilizer,  etc.  Record  foodgrain  loading  was  done  to supply  foodgrains  to  States  under  the  Prime  Minister  Garib  Kalyan  Ann Yojna (PMGKAY).

After the easing of lockdown by Ministry of Home Affairs, Railways took a number of steps to move more freight traffic and the shortfall of freight  traffic  of  70  million  tonnes  during  the  period  April'2020  upto July'2020 as compared to the corresponding period of last year has been considerably  made  good.  Indian  Railways  have  loaded  1102.58  million tonnes  from  April,  2020  to  February,  2021  as  against  1107.20  million tonnes during the corresponding period of last financial year.

(e):  Considering  the  need  to  provide  adequate  budgetary  support  for incurring inevitable expenditure in the light of adverse impact of Covid 19

on  Railway  receipts,  the  Government  has  provided  a  Special  Loan  for Covid related resource gap. The Ministry has been taking measures on a continuing basis to improve the  financial  position.  Apart  from  restoring  passenger  services  on  a progressive  basis  in  the  current  year,  the  endeavour  comprises  of  a combination  of  initiatives  aimed  at  maximizing  revenue  receipts  and minimizing controllable revenue expenses. Revenue enhancing measures, inter alia, include targeting progressively higher traffic throughput, expansion  of  commodity  basket,  effective  and  innovative  marketing strategies  to  capture  more  and  more  traffic,  creation  of  additional capacity and  optimum  utilization of the existing rail infrastructure including rolling stock,  enhancement  in  productivity  and  efficiency, improvement of passenger interface, periodic rationalization of fare and freight  rates  and  focus  on  increasing  the  share  of  non-fare  revenue sources in Railways' total revenue. Expenditure control measures include strict  economy  and  austerity  measures,  improved  man-power  planning, better asset utilization, inventory management, optimizing fuel consumption etc.

****

APPENDIX REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) AND (b) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3640 BY SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 17.03.2021 REGARDING IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON RAILWAY REVENUE

Actual Passenger Revenue vis-à-vis targets(Revised Estimates)  in last three years and current year ( ` in crore)

|                    | 2017-18           | 2017-18   | 2018-19           | 2018-19   | 2019-20           | 2019-20   | 2020-21           | 2020-21              |
|--------------------|-------------------|-----------|-------------------|-----------|-------------------|-----------|-------------------|----------------------|
| Zones              | Revised Estimates | Actuals   | Revised Estimates | Actuals   | Revised Estimates | Actuals   | Revised Estimates | Approx. up to Feb'21 |
| Central            | 5550              | 5369      | 5840              | 5732      | 6266              | 5594      | 1906              | 1302                 |
| Eastern            | 2346              | 2280      | 2455              | 2351      | 2644              | 2366      | 625               | 585                  |
| East Central       | 2457              | 2413      | 2500              | 2534      | 2692              | 2499      | 1068              | 921                  |
| East Cost          | 1430              | 1411      | 1510              | 1511      | 1626              | 1509      | 507               | 306                  |
| Northern           | 6671              | 6357      | 6650              | 6512      | 7055              | 6429      | 1628              | 1330                 |
| North Central      | 4900              | 4756      | 5090              | 4993      | 5482              | 4774      | 1988              | 1757                 |
| North Eastern      | 1600              | 1543      | 1619              | 1574      | 1743              | 1619      | 802               | 539                  |
| North Frontier     | 1160              | 1178      | 1376              | 1349      | 1492              | 1333      | 453               | 373                  |
| North Western      | 2097              | 2004      | 2150              | 2091      | 2250              | 2049      | 418               | 382                  |
| Southern           | 4380              | 4247      | 4521              | 4482      | 5110              | 4587      | 735               | 738                  |
| South Central      | 4995              | 4861      | 5296              | 5167      | 5734              | 5293      | 1190              | 1076                 |
| South Eastern      | 1635              | 1569      | 1713              | 1664      | 1845              | 1660      | 461               | 383                  |
| South East Central | 1165              | 1128      | 1176              | 1159      | 1276              | 1152      | 242               | 222                  |
| South Western      | 1530              | 1488      | 1565              | 1556      | 1736              | 1583      | 360               | 277                  |
| Western            | 4650              | 4541      | 4780              | 4713      | 5116              | 4619      | 1131              | 976                  |
| West Central       | 3361              | 3304      | 3551              | 3477      | 3725              | 3384      | 1426              | 1212                 |
| Metro/Kolkata      | 200               | 194       | 208               | 201       | 208               | 219       | 59                | 31                   |
| Grand Total        | 50125             | 48643     | 52000             | 51067     | 56000             | 50669     | 15000             | 12409                |

## Actual Goods Revenue vis-à-vis targets(Revised Estimates)  in last three years and current year

( ` in crore)

|                    | 2017-18           | 2017-18   | 2018-19           | 2018-19   | 2019-20           | 2019-20   | 2020-21           | 2020-21              |
|--------------------|-------------------|-----------|-------------------|-----------|-------------------|-----------|-------------------|----------------------|
| Zones              | Revised Estimates | Actuals   | Revised Estimates | Actuals   | Revised Estimates | Actuals   | Revised Estimates | Approx. up to Feb'21 |
| Central            | 7500              | 7330      | 8488              | 8623      | 8714              | 7268      | 6951              | 6219                 |
| Eastern            | 4500              | 4520      | 4767              | 4445      | 5254              | 4047      | 4801              | 3975                 |
| East Central       | 9140              | 9975      | 11307             | 10046     | 9180              | 8784      | 10341             | 8369                 |
| East Cost          | 14900             | 15135     | 16398             | 15840     | 18289             | 15894     | 18311             | 15104                |
| Northern           | 7000              | 7075      | 8044              | 8166      | 8956              | 6768      | 7683              | 6595                 |
| North Central      | 10000             | 10345     | 11469             | 10332     | 11640             | 8048      | 7771              | 6706                 |
| North Eastern      | 1650              | 1576      | 1608              | 1599      | 1772              | 1460      | 1801              | 1436                 |
| North Frontier     | 1940              | 2076      | 2357              | 2152      | 2598              | 1933      | 2357              | 1953                 |
| North Western      | 4800              | 4627      | 4800              | 5080      | 4316              | 4017      | 5110              | 4383                 |
| Southern           | 2850              | 2694      | 3179              | 3125      | 3176              | 2755      | 2891              | 2327                 |
| South Central      | 10800             | 10841     | 12705             | 12207     | 12007             | 9906      | 9159              | 7955                 |
| South Eastern      | 12550             | 12008     | 12724             | 13009     | 14024             | 13799     | 15085             | 12466                |
| South East Central | 12110             | 11762     | 12881             | 12769     | 14396             | 12459     | 14051             | 11920                |
| South Western      | 3160              | 2979      | 3086              | 3010      | 3461              | 2892      | 3296              | 2800                 |
| Western            | 6800              | 6692      | 7142              | 7979      | 7291              | 5437      | 6060              | 5242                 |
| West Central       | 7800              | 7421      | 8793              | 9050      | 9657              | 8020      | 8516              | 7142                 |
| Grand Total        | 117500            | 117055    | 129750            | 127433    | 134733            | 113488    | 124184            | 104594               |