Alternate Means of Financing Railways

This paper by Raghuram and Ravi Babu focuses on the financial requirements of Indian Railways and the means of providing for them. Drawing lessons from the existing modes of finance, the pros and cons of the potential modes including budgetary support, internal resource generation, market borrowings, BOLT (Build, Operate, Lease, Transfer), and BOT (Build, Operate, Transfer) are discussed. With declining budgetary support and expensive market borrowings, the paper seeks to focus attention on internal resource generation and BOLT⁄BOT schemes which involve stakeholders. Increased internal resource generation is possible by increasing revenues through value added service and innovative pricing, and reducing cost through improved asset utilization.