Railways aims Rs 40,000 crore earnings by monetising soft assets in next 10 years
The railways today spelt out a target of Rs 40,000 crore revenue from monetising its soft assets in the next 10 years.
In a two-pronged strategy, the railways aims to increase earnings through traditional as well as non-traditional sources, while at the same time reducing expenditure. “Earlier the railways used to focus on traditional sources for revenue earnings, that is passenger fares and freight. Now, we have firmed up the non-fare revenue policy aiming to earn about Rs 40,000 crore in the next 10 years,” Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said at an event here.
Railways has formulated the non-fare revenue (NFR) policy to perk up earnings from advertisements on trains, putting up large LCD screens on its premises and monetising data. All soft assets of the railways will be monetised, he said. More than two crore passengers travel in about 11,000 trains in a day in the rail network. Passenger-related data would be be monetised under the NFR strategy. Besides data, the railways will be allowing branding of trains and launching a mega app as part of the monetisation of soft assets in a big way.
Noting that railways witnesses more than eight billion footfalls and eyeballs in a year, Prabhu said, “If …read more
