Journalism of Courage
Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal hailed the Union Budget 2019 as reform-oriented and welcomed the vision laid out for the rail sector, adding that to expand the rail sector, there are several modes of financing, like viability gap funding, PPP and government expenditure. Speaking to Avishek G Dastidar, Goyal ruled out privatisation of Railways, but spoke on the possibility of partnerships with private players. On the trade front, he ruled out rising tensions between the US and India. Excerpts:
How do you view the Budget?
First of all, I think it is a matter of great pride that we have the first full-time woman Finance Minister … it will be remembered along with the Budget for 130 crore people of India. The huge thrust given to ease of living, poor, lower middle class, middle class, the concentrated effort to lay the foundation for a Rs 100 lakh crore investment on infrastructure in different sectors over next five years … all this is a matter of great pride. I must thank her on behalf of the Railways and Commerce ministries … there are several initiatives that will help the infrastructure and promote interests of India. To sum up, the Budget is for 130 crore Indians — rich or poor, young or old, entrepreneurs or industrialists — promoting new work opportunities for the youth of India, for our skilled manpower and respecting and providing premium on honesty once again.
In the larger messaging, how do you think this Budget was different from the Interim budget that you presented?
I think Interim Budget is only a subset of this Budget. At that point of time we were only going for a vote on account for four months. This is the main budget. That should be seen in conjunction with the main Budget. So there’s no difference, it’s a continuation.
How do you plan to raise Rs 50 lakh crore by 2030 for the rail sector through PPP as announced in the Budget?
Some of the old projects like 100 per cent electrification and station development are already there. Now, we have worked out what needs to be done to create additional capacity so that our modal share of freight can once again start going up, cost of logistics starts going down, and in passengers, along with more amenities, how can people get more and more avenues to travel by train to reach their destination. All of these will involve doubling, tripling, the Dedicated Freight Corridor, semi high speed corridor, … for regional connectivity, to aspirational districts. It’s a holistic vision that we have worked out through government expenditure, viability gap funding and PPP.
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What are the PPP opportunities?
For example, if Coal India opens a new mine and needs to transport 30 million tonnes of coal every year and they have a dedicated line, we will let them set it up. We could even join them in partnership. Similarly, if someone wants to set up a semi-high speed corridor between any two parts of the country, connecting tourists spots and (are) willing to invest in it, we are happy to consider such proposals. If someone wants to bring new technology, and faster rail transport, we are open to inviting new technologies. For example, the Mumbai monorail. Unfortunately, the party that set it up failed and the government had to take it up. But one failure does not mean everybody will fail. We have many partnerships: Pipav railway, Krishnapatnam Railway company, these are all SPVs. We should keep evolving for good technologically superior solutions. As Rabindranath Tagore said, ‘Let ideas flow from all four directions.’
The Budget talks about investing more in suburban railway. Your thoughts?
Suburban is good opportunity. Metro is also railway, although it is handled by urban development ministry … she (Sitharaman) did not talk about specifically railway or metro.
Will you privatise the Indian Railways?
Not at all. Are all the roads in india privatised? Are all the airports? Now government has no role.
As the Commerce and Industry Minister, do you think increase in import duty of gold will lead to smuggling?
I think people will gradually start monetising their gold. Our effort will be to try and promote monetising schemes more. People say there are thousands of tonnes of gold in India.
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Are there tensions rising between the US and India because they have dragged us to the WTO?
They have not dragged us to WTO (World Trade Organization). These are normal processes. They have to protect their interests we have to protect our interests. We are two sovereign nations. These are not earth shattering. Our relationship is getting better, government to government.
