Union Budget 2018, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal interview: ‘No govt has shown so much fiscal prudence in last Budget of first term’

Everyone is saying it’s our last Budget. Actually, the right way to put it is that it is the last Budget of our first term. I have never seen any government show so much fiscal prudence in the last Budget of its first term. If you recall the Budgets of 2008 and 2013, they were imprudent. They were like ‘elections are coming, do whatever’. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have stayed away from this. During the UPA time, the slide of fiscal deficit was from around two per cent to over six per cent. And today, Chidambaram is saying there is apparently no fiscal prudence because the figure is 3.5 per cent. There is one month’s worth of GST collection less in this and the whole world knows it. And if it was fiscally not prudent, the stock markets would not have been so stable today. Despite long-term capital gain tax, the markets did not crash.

Will the Railways be able to spend so much capital money next year, considering this time the finance ministry slashed the Gross Budgetary Support by Rs 15,000 crore?

I have been continuously saying that the way we have been spending so far is not right. We are changing the rules of the game. Earlier, we would spend as and when land was available. Now, I have instructed officials to make such a plan that land requirement is minimum. So, 60 km of the Bengaluru suburban rail plan, for instance, is elevated because you just can’t get land in Bangalore. What we are doing now is a different, practical way of doing things. For signalling upgrades, for instance, I don’t need any land. The control is in my hands. Now, we will go for 60,000 km of signalling upgrade to install European Train Control System Level 2 signalling. So far, in the whole world, a total of 60,000 km of this system has been installed. We are doing that in India alone. I told the industry the other day that we will give out a 60,000-km signalling contract in one go. Let the companies fight among each other to lower the price to bag the contract. India is going to set the rules of the game for the world. The cost will finally be so less that no one would be able to compete with the price even internationally.

You have set a revenue target of over Rs 2 lakh crore, which is the highest ever. How do you plan to achieve that, considering your have low tariffs?

As and when we do more effective utilisation (of capacity)… I am getting consultants to make the timetable. A lot of unlocked capacity in railways will free up then. Right now, just imagine, the timetable for 12,000 passenger trains and about 10,000 freight trains is made manually. It’s a crazy system. We will improve that with efficiency. This repeated talks of losses in the passenger segment, in my opinion, we can make up for with efficiency. It won’t happen in one year but in a few years it will happen.

How do you plan to finance the suburban network upgrade in Mumbai and Bengaluru, considering it incurs losses for the system?

I have told states that in Transit Oriented Development policy, if you give Floor Area Ratio(FAR) of four to five, we can do 50-50. Maharashtra is on board. Otherwise, our policy was 80-20 Joint Venture (JV) with states.

Is establishment cost a worry, because pension and such costs in Railways are increasing at a rate faster than your revenue growth?

The only way to address that is to use technology. This year will be a year of focus on technology. Say we have to give security to passengers, but for that, if I start deputing people in every coach, imagine what will be the establishment cost. So all trains and all coaches will get CCTV cameras. Similarly, from track laying, screening of tracks for defects etc, technology will be deployed in all that.

Will you be able to fund all these ideas, including inducting new technology?

In my department there is never any dearth of money. Money is never any constraint for any project. There should be intention, honesty and the mind should work. Safety spend of Rs 73,000 will have track renewal, signalling upgrade etc. This country has never done so much track renewal. We will do 4,300 km this year. So you need the intention to do it.

Do you want more private investment in the sector?

Yes, why not, because that will bring in bigger investment, efficiency and passenger comfort in the segment. Now, for example, we have to provide WiFi in all stations. I have to choose whether I will invest in it myself or invite the private sector to come and install WiFi… I have asked the Railway Board to examine possibilities.

Lastly, do you wish you had Rail Budget of your own like your predecessors?

Not at all. You see, the problems Railways has today is because of that (separate) Budget in the past. Because all announcements of new rail lines etc had become political. It was a political Budget, there was no national interest.