Railway's financial arm IRFC plans to explore 'new line of business'

Union Railways Minister, Piyush Goyal, on Saturday said that Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) is planning to explore new "lines of businesses" and will ensure better applicability of its Minimum Alternate Tax.

Watch Shri @PiyushGoyal #LIVE speaking at the 8th Anniversary of Money life Foundation, in Mumbai https://t.co/H4yUs1eokT

— Piyush Goyal Office (@PiyushGoyalOffc) January 13, 2018

Have aggressive plans to monetize some assets of Indian Railways, planning to change some existing guidelines on monetizing land&station assets.We are also contemplating to increase lease period from 45 yrs to 99 yrs&allowing participants to have multiple leases: Railway Minister pic.twitter.com/R27rPm3Hu4

— ANI (@ANI) January 13, 2018

Minimum Alternate Tax will enable better valuation of IRFC, the minister said. 

Railway stations, foot over bridges, entry & exit points are no more under passenger amenities category but are now considered as passenger necessities and is a part of safety, for which there is no budgetary constraint: @PiyushGoyal

— Piyush Goyal Office (@PiyushGoyalOffc) January 13, 2018

The minister also shared the government's plans "to monetize some assets of Indian Railways" and other plans to change some of the existing guidelines on land and station assets monetization. 

We are trying to set up 20 lakh CCTV cameras in the entire Indian Railway network, particularly the passenger coaches: @PiyushGoyal

— Piyush Goyal Office (@PiyushGoyalOffc) January 13, 2018

This year is also expected to bring in some early good news for wagon makers and firms providing railway infrastructure with the Railway Board set to put an end to inordinate delays in awarding of tenders as communicated in the closing days of last year.

"Railway Board vide various letters had emphasised for timely settlement of tenders. In a complaint investigated by Railway Board, it has been observed that there is a long time gap between the opening of the tenders and their finalisation, which is not normal. In this context, it is once again reiterated that all tenders should be finalised within the normal validity period," a letter written by the Railway Board to all its production units as well as other departments said recently, urging to fix definite timelines for execution of every contract.

The biggest beneficiary would perhaps be the wagon makers who are still awaiting awarding of a tender for 9,500 wagons expected in July last year.

The wagon makers were expecting the order to flow finally by the end of November, industry sources said.

"Suitable timelines within the validity period and monitoring mechanism thereof may be devised by Railways or it's production units. Strict adherence to such timelines in all circumstances should be ensured," the letter written by Railway Board deputy director Santosh Mitral said.

Despite plans to spend close to Rs 8.5 lakh crore to beef up Indian Railways, the wagon makers, a key component of the department's freight revenue generation, have been bleeding profusely primarily due to lack of adequate orders caused primarily due to recurring delays in awarding these wagon contracts.

The only wagon order given in 2017 was for about 2,500 wagons.

The last major contract handed out in 2016 had suffered significant delays as wagon makers, desperate for any new orders trickling in, started quoting ridiculously low prices even below the cost of materials, triggering a crisis in the industry.