If one pleasant change is happening for Indian Railways in recent years, it is merger of its budget with the general budget. This time, the Rail budget will be presented as a part of the general budget.
Here, the age-old transportation giant gets an opportunity to enhance its performance. Putting Railways under the general budget will help the institution to evade free-bee searching public eye for fare concessions.
Finance Minister in a recent press Conference told that Railways should concentrate more on performance, switching away from populism.
The new rail budget format is expected to pursue serious disciplines which are in dire need to rebalance the railway finance. Fares may be increased on selected segments. Similarly, several freight transportations encouraging steps are also expected.
Railways as one of the last remaining institution that doesn’t follow sound finance to deliver populism. Not just that its revenues are not enough to meet reinvestment, rather several issues like safety and security and lack of modernization are affecting the core functionalities of Indian Railways.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitely and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu have already met senior Railway functionaries to facilitate the migration.
