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Showing posts with label SBI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SBI. Show all posts

Saturday, 29 August 2020

07:30

IRCTC and SBI Card launch Co-branded Contactless Credit Card on RuPay Platform

IRCTC and SBI Card launch Co-branded Contactless Credit Card on RuPay Platform

 No.196/2020-21

28-08-2020

Chennai

IRCTC and SBI Card launch Co-branded Contactless Credit Card on RuPay Platform

New Delhi, 28th July 2020: In yet another initiative towards pursuance of the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister of ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat’, ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make In India’  and towards fulfillment of the mission of Hon’ble Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal in achieving greater self reliance for ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat’ and engaging with the world from a position of strength, IRCTC and SBI Card together launched their new Co-branded Contactless Credit Card o­n RuPay Platform. The new credit card was dedicated to the service of the nation today by Sh. Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry.   

Speaking o­n the occasion, Hon’ble Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal said “We are strongly committed in making Railways ‘Aatma Nirbhar’ in all the fields with ‘Make In India’ initiatives as envisaged by Hon’ble Prime Minister. The IRCTC SBI co-branded card working o­n RuPay Platform is o­ne of the many “Make In India” activities undertaken by the Railways”

With the aim to offer a safe transaction environment to the customers, the new RuPay credit card is equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology whereby the users can expedite their transactions at the POS machines by just tapping the card o­n the machines without requiring to swipe the card. 

Designed to reward frequent railway travellers, the new co-branded credit card offers the rail passengers maximum savings proposition o­n their travel together with exclusive benefits o­n retail, dining and entertainment as well as transaction fee waivers. 

The Cardholders will receive up to 10% value back o­n 1st AC, 2nd AC, 3rd AC, Executive Chair Car & AC Chair Car bookings made at IRCTC website. The card also offers o­nline transaction fee waiver (1% of transaction amount), 1% fuel surcharge waiver and 4 premium lounge free access at Railway stations in a year (one per quarter). The users of the card will receive 350 Bonus Reward Points upon activation of the card with a minimum spent.  The users can redeem the accumulated reward points against purchase of train tickets o­n IRCTC’s ticketing website. In addition to savings o­n rail travel, the IRCTC SBI card offers several benefits for o­nline shopping portals.  Customers can avail discounts while shopping at e-commerce sites.

With RuPay’s increasing market share and gaining popularity among Indian customers, the RuPay powered IRCTC SBI Cobranded Credit Card is yet another step to provide RuPay users a delightful shopping experience.

The new co-branded credit card together substantiates the commitment of IRCTC, SBI Card and RuPay for promoting the Digital India initiatives and aims to ensure a safe, convenient and improved travel experience for the rail passengers.

Source:Southern Railway


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Sunday, 1 July 2018

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Thursday, 17 May 2018

08:18

IRCTC-SBI Platinum Card: Customers can get up to 10% value back on AC1, AC2, CC booking

IRCTC-SBI Platinum Card: Customers can get up to 10% value back on AC1, AC2, CC booking

NEW DELHI: IRCTC or Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation offers free train tickets via a card of the largest lender of the country, State Bank of India (SBI). “Here’s announcing the arrival of exclusivity. Presenting the IRCTC SBI Platinum Card. The only credit card that gives you Free* Train Tickets…

The IRCTC SBI Card is brought to you by IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) and SBI Cards,” IRCTC said on its website, irctc.co.in. The IRCTC SBI Platinum Card offers 350 reward points, 1.8 per cent transaction charges waiver, 2.5 per cent fuel surcharges waiver, and over 10 per cent value back on railway bookings, said IRCTC.

Benefits of IRCTC SBI Platinum Card

Get up to 10% ticket fare as reward points: Customers can get up to 10 per cent value back on AC1, AC11, CC booking as SBI Card Travel Reward Points for ticket purchases at irctc.co.in.

1.8% transaction charges waiver: Customers can save 1.8 per cent transaction charges (exclusive of GST and all other charges) every time they book their railway tickets online at irctc.co.in with their IRCTC SBI Platinum Card.
IRCTC-SBI Platinum Card: Customers can get up to 10% value back on AC1, AC2, CC booking

You don’t need to carry ticket for Indian Railways journey! Read the entire report to know the feature from IRCTC which is very convenient!
Earn free train tickets: You can shop, dine, travel on your IRCTC SBI Platinum Card and earn one reward point for every Rs. 125 spent on non-fuel retail purchases, including railway ticket purchases at irctc.co.in. Customers can redeem all their reward points on irctc.co.in against railway ticket purchases (s).

2.5% transaction fee waiver on fuel purchases: Customers can avail 2.5 per cent transaction fee waiver on fuel purchases across all petrol pumps for transaction amount ranging from Rs. 500-Rs. 3,000 (exclusive of GST and other charges). The maximum surcharge waiver that can be availed is Rs. 100 per statement cycle per credit card account.

Reward points on purchases: Customers get 1 reward point for every Rs. 125 spent on other retail purchases, including railway ticket purchases, at irctc.co.in. One reward point = Re 1. “Apply today get free 350 bonus activation reward points,” said IRCTC.

Offers from VISA: Customers also get “great offers” on travel, gold, dining, and other entertainment options from VISA, according to irctc.co.in.

How to apply for IRCTC SBI Platinum Card

Customers need to send an SMS typing “RAIL” to 56767. After that, a representative from SBI will contact him/her. You can also visit “Apply Now” section of sbicard.com to apply for this card.

IRCTC has been running special travel packages and trains across domestic and international destinations. IRCTC is offering a three nights and four days package to Nepal, a six-day flight tour package to Sri Lanka, a 10-day package to Gaya and Varanasi, a seven-day tour package to Gangtok and Darjeeling and a Chandigarh-Shimla-Manali air package, among many others. IRCTC is also running the Bharat Darshan tourist train which covers important religious and leisure destinations of the country.

IRCTC-operated Maharajas’ Express is offering ‘the Indian Splendour’ tour package that covers  destinations like Delhi, Agra, Ranthambore, Jaipur, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Balasinor and Mumbai.

You don’t need to carry ticket for Indian Railways journey! Read the entire report to know the feature from IRCTC which is very convenient! Instead of carrying a printout or hard copy of your Indian Railways train ticket, IRCTC now sends you SMS-based tickets that can be shown to the Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE).

Gone are the days when you were required to carry a physical copy of your Indian Railways train ticket! IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) has a simple and ‘mobile’ solution. Yes, instead of carrying a printout or hard copy of your Indian Railways train ticket, IRCTC now sends you SMS-based tickets that can be shown to the Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE). This SMS ticket has all details such as PNR number, the name of the ticket holder, seat number and the status of the ticket (whether it is confirmed or wait-listed). These SMS tickets from IRCTC are sent to the ticket holder after he/she successfully books a ticket from the IRCTC website or IRCTC Rail Connect App.

In order to book tickets online, the passenger can simply log on to the official website of IRCTC by using his/her name and password. After login, a ‘Plan my travel’ page appears on the screen. The passenger can then select ‘To’ and ‘From’ stations and the ‘e-ticket’ option. Then in order to find the train list, the passenger can click on the ‘Submit’ option. The list displays the number of trains, which are available for that route. In case the passenger wants to know the route and the timings of any particular train he/she can click on the train name under the ‘List of Trains’ option. Then in order to get the fare, the passenger can click on class available in the selected train under ‘List of Trains’ option, which will show fare according to the type of class selected. Then the passenger can select the train by clicking on the type of class available on the selected train. By clicking on the class section, it will show the train details with availability. The passenger can then book the train ticket by clicking on ‘Book Now’ under availability option.

If the passenger wishes to select another train then he/she can click on ‘Reset’ button. Following this, the ticket reservation page appears. The passenger, after checking the names of the train and stations, can enter the names of the passengers, age, sex and berth preference. After this, the payment option appears along with the ticket details and the passenger can make the payment by choosing a desired mode of payment.

Source:RailNews
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Friday, 6 April 2018

20:36

IRCTC ticket booking via SBI card: Indian Railways waives off this charge, offers reward points; see how

IRCTC ticket booking via SBI card: Indian Railways waives off this charge, offers reward points; see how
The SBI card, also known as  Railway Debit Card, will allow people to go for cashless transactions at least while booking the railway tickets. The card is bundled with numerous benefits like transaction charge waiver, reward points and more. Scroll down to know the benefits that come your way while booking your railway ticket. 
Transaction Charges Waiver: The card can be used for any transaction but any transaction related to tickets will be free of any charges. You save 1.8% transaction charges, exclusive of GST and all other charges, when you book railway tickets on irctc.co.in, using your IRCTC SBI Platinum Card
Redeem Rewards Points: For booking train tickets at irctc.co.in (1 Reward Point = Rs 1).
Activation bonus: 350 activation bonus reward points on spending Rs 500. 
Freedom from Surcharges: The cardholder enjoys the benefit of not paying the 1% fuel surcharge on petrol pumps. 

 Read More...
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Tuesday, 2 February 2016

08:00

INAUGURATION OF DOOR STEP BANKING & e-BALANCE SHEET FACILITY OF SBI TO SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAYBY Shri P.K. SAXENA, GM/SWR AT HUBBALLI

PR272-2015
30-01-2016
SWR
INAUGURATION OF DOOR STEP BANKING & e-BALANCE SHEET FACILITY OF SBI TO SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAYBY Shri P.K. SAXENA, GM/SWR AT HUBBALLI


PR272-INAUGURATION OF DOOR STEP BANKING & e-BALANCE SHEET FACILITY OF SBI TO SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAYBY Shri P.K. SAXENA, GM/SWR AT HUBBALLI

PressReleaseNo. 272 dated28-01-2016

INAUGURATION OF DOOR STEP BANKING & e-BALANCE SHEET FACILITY OF SBI TO SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAYBY Shri P.K. SAXENA, GM/SWR AT HUBBALLI

Shri Pradeep Kumar Saxena, General Manager, South Western Railway inaugurated the Door Step Banking and e-balance Sheet facility, the service being provided by State Bank of India—the Bankers to the Nation, in association with Accounts & Commercial Departments of SWR, was held at Passenger Reservation System(PRS) Centre, Hubballi Railway Station on Wednesday, the 27th January, 2016.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Pradeep Kumar Saxena, General Manager, SWR said that today everywhere most of the works are being done through on line services and it is widely being used because it is fast and accurate when compared to manual working.In Railways, the door step banking is introduced, wherein the bank, through its cash management agencies will collect the money from the Stations and in turn will give the receipts.Preparation of e-balance sheet using Passenger Reservation System(PRS)/Unreserved Ticketing System(UTS) software will nullify the mistakes in accounting, Shri Saxena added.

While explaining the concept in detail, Dr. V. Chandrashekara Rao, Financial Advisor and Chief Accounts Officer(FA&CAO), SWR said that South Western Railway is the first Railway in Indian Railways to introduce Doorstep Banking for the whole zone.He said cash handling and Management in Railways has always been a dynamic phenomenon.With over 8000 stations approximately in Indian Railways(the largest transporter of men and material) and Cash being handled/managed in all these areas a huge contingent of staff were always required for this process of handling and accounting.So far, the existing system was the cash collected in the stations were moved through heavy cash chests(it can be seen in the photo) through designated trains so as to be accounted in centralized places called as Revenue Cash Office.This cash was in turn deposited into Reserve Bank of India(RBI) by Revenue Cash Office.The movement of this physical cash took considerable time for counting and accounting.

Dr. V. Chandrashekara Rao also said keeping in sync with modern trends changing and technological advancement in Banking Sector like Door Step Banking, On Line Banking, etc., Railways also felt the need for Door Step Banking, wherein the Railway cash from various cash collection points can be collected by the Banks through their agents and accounted immediately avoiding time lag and utilization of the so earned revenue for the various activities of Railways.He also stated that SWR under the aegis of its General Manager, SWR, Shri Pradeep Kumar Saxena and himself initiated for Door Step Banking with State Bank of India(the Bankers to the Nation) Managers’ and they have expressed their willingness to collect the cash from the Door Steps of Railways amidst other nationalized banks from whom expression of interest were called for.After detailed brass talks between Railways by him and Shri Y.V. Ramana Murthy, General Manager (Network-1), State Bank of India—the signing of Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) took place.Door Step Banking was finally inaugurated by our beloved General Manager, SWR, Shri P.K. Saxena on 27-01-2016, which would bring to end the tradition of movement of Railway Cash by huge iron chests to a centralized location in phased manner commencing from 1st Feb. 2016.The huge metal chests that were used by the South Western Railway to safeguard the money would become a scrap item now.Railways will be handing over anything between Rs. 3 to 4 Cr. a day to SBI.SWR becomes the first Zonal Railway in Indian Railways to go ahead with implementation of Door Step Banking with SBI in totality, covering around 301 Cash Remittance Points(CRPs) over entire South Western Railway as against Division-wise practice, followed and implemented in other railways.A new page will be turned over in the history of South Western Railway effective from 27th Jan. 2016, Shri Rao added.He thanked Shri P.K. Saxena, GM, SWR, Shri Vishal Agarwal, Chief Commercial Manager, SWR, Shri R.K. Agarwal, Deputy General Manager, State Bank of India, Lt. Col.(Retd.) Shri Haneet Din, Regional Head of Radiant Cash Management Agency for their support and co-operation.
The officials present for the function include, Shri S.S. Soin, Additional General Manager, SWR, Shri Vishal Agarwal, Chief Commercial Manager, SWR, Shri Elavarasan, Chief Signal & Telecom. Engineer, SWR, Shri H. Gul Ashfaque Mohammed, Secretary to Geneal Manager, Shri Arun Kumar Jain, DRM, Hubballi Division, Shri R.K. Agarwal, Deputy General Manager, SBI, Shri Shivanand Gumaste, Assistant General Manager, SBI, Hubballi Main Branch and other Officers and staff of SWR.

Photo Caption : Door Step Banking facility to SWRDSC-6381 : Shri Pradeep Kumar Saxena, General Manager, South Western Railway seen inaugurating the Door Step Banking facility by receiving a receipt for the amount credited toRailway Account in SBI/Hubballi from Lt. Col. (Retd.) Shri Haneet Din, Regional Head of Radiant Cash Management Agency in a simple function held at Passenger Reservation System (PRS) Centre, Hubballi Railway Stationheld on 27-01-2016.Also seen in the Picture (R to L) are : Shri S.S. Soin, Additional General Manager, SWR , Shri R.K. Agarwal, Deputy General Manager, State Bank of India, Dr. V. Chandrasekhara Rao, FA&CAO, SWR and others look on.

Photo Caption : Door Step Banking facility to SWRDSC_6387 : Shri Pradeep Kumar Saxena, General Manager, South Western Railway seen observingthe e-Balance Sheet in the Computer at Passenger Reservation System(PRS) centre, Hubballi Railway Stationin connection with inauguration of Door Step Banking & e-Balance Sheet function held on 27-01-2016.

Photo Caption : Door Step Banking facility to SWRDSC-6404 : Shri Pradeep Kumar Saxena, General Manager, South Western Railway seen addressingin connection withinauguration ofthe Door Step Banking& e-Balance Sheet organized jointly by Accounts and Commercial Departments of SWR in association with State Bank of India held at Passenger Reservation System (PRS) Centre, Hubballi Railway Stationheld on 27-01-2016.
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Tuesday, 26 January 2016

07:33

Corporatise Indian Railways; pay employees market-linked salaries

Corporatise Indian Railways; pay employees market-linked salaries

Railways minister Suresh Prabhu is doing the right thing by seeking to monetise assets and roping in SBI Capital Markets to help in the process. However, the government should help him find the Rs 32,000 crore needed to implement the Seventh Pay Commission award in the Railways, at least by deferring dividend payment. Being part of the government is a drag on the Railways.

Apart from thwarting a commercial culture, it imposes the pay commission award on the Railways, which should ideally pay market-linked wages and salaries to its staff and put in place an incentive system suited for a business enterprise. If the government does not want to bear the Railways’ pay hike burden, the simple solution would be to corporatise the Railways and let it fend for itself. And it is likely to do very well, too.

Deploying railway land around stations to develop commercial real estate through private sector partners, low-cost debt from the Life Insurance Corporation and foreign direct investment for coaches and locomotives are innovative ways to raise funds. As part of the government, the Railways needs an autonomous regulator to set realistic tariffs.

Once recast as a clutch of operating companies owned by a common holding company, competing with one another and with private operators of rolling stock who pay the track and signalling subsidiary the same fee as the rail subsidiaries operating rolling stock, fare and freight would be set dynamically, responding to competition and the state of demand and supply.

The value of the operating subsidiaries can be discovered through stake sales and listing. Based on the value so discovered, each subsidiary or joint venture can raise additional resources for investment. And the Railways will offer subsidies only when these are explicitly compensated for by the Union Budget. Such an efficient commercial entity would, over the medium term, generate substantial profits that would find their way to the central government as well. Such a transformation is a journey that the Railways cannot put off indefinitely.
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Sunday, 23 August 2015

11:14

SBI to increase number of customer service points

SBI to increase number of customer service points

Anticipating tougher competition after RBI granted payments banking licences to 11 entities, State Bank of India (SBI) on Friday said it will increase the number of its Customer Service Points (CSP) to assert its position in the rural unbanked segment.

"We are seeing a lot of competition," SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said at a FICCI Banking Conclave here.

She said that while full-fledged or universal banks were ahead of payments banks (PBs) in terms of service, size of remittance handled and other factors, the PBs would be ahead of the universal banks when it came to their reach in rural households.

"PBs will have better access in the rural unbanked segment and so we are also coming up with a low-cost model to service the unbanked segment," she said.

According to her, setting up a bank in a rural place involved numerous costs while the cost could be pared down through the CSP route.

Bhattacharya said the PBs would handle small remittances and reach out to rural customers, these financial institutions would be of limited help to regular customers.

"The PBs are also not interested in credit history as they cannot offer loans. It makes more sense to use full-fledged banks to build the credit history," she said.

The SBI chairperson referred to the importance of the credit history in developed countries.

"In the developed world, without a credit card, you don't exist. Without it, you can't do a thing," Bhattacharya said.

In West Bengal, the SBI would add 500 CSPs in rural panchayats which don't have access to banking facilities.

source :WebIndia123.
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11:03

Payments bank license to promote massive digital transactions: Mukesh Ambani

Payments bank license to promote massive digital transactions: Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani on Friday said the payments bank license issued to its joint venture with the State Bank of India (SBI) will promote massive adoption of digital transactions with low cost access.

"The payments bank is integral to RIL's digital initiative in a rapidly converging world of telecom, internet, commerce, media and financial services. This is one of our many initiatives to contribute meaningfully to the government of India's ambitious Digital India programme," said Ambani in a statement.

RIL said the payments bank will function in conjunction with JioMoney, a prepaid payment instrument of Reliance Jio, to facilitate cashless payments across multiple-use cases and build India's largest digital merchant network.

RIL and SBI applied for payments bank license in which RIL is the promoter and SBI the joint venture partner with an equity investment of up to 30 percent.

SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said the partnership is the "first-of-its-kind public private partnership (PPP) to make India's financial services digitally smart".

"SBI's vast experience in structuring financial products for different customer segments will be combined with the digital access provided by RIL in completing the most efficient, simple and affordable delivery model with utmost focus on financial inclusion," the statement cited her as saying.

On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of India granted payments banks license to 11 entities - Aditya Birla Nuvo, Airtel M Commerce Services, Cholamandalam Distribution Services, Department of Posts, Fino PayTech, National Securities Depository Ltd, RIL, Dilip Shantilal Shangvi of Sun Pharma (who applied in personal capacity), Vijay Sekhar Sharma, Tech Mahindra and Vodafone M-Pesa - saying these had the reach and technological and financial strength to serve the numerous excluded customers across the nation.

Source :webindia123
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Tuesday, 23 June 2015

21:45

Bank employees put off strike plan

Bank employees put off strike plan

The All-India Bank Employees’ Association has put off the proposed June 24 all-India bank strike aimed at pressing the State Bank of India management to “implement the government guidelines” on housing loans, compassionate appointments and trade union representation in the associate banks of the SBI.

AIBEA General Secretary CH Venkatachalam told BusinessLine that the association would take up these issues with the Union Finance Minister and the Union Labour Minister shortly as the talks with the SBI management were not productive. It was in view of this that the strike was postponed, he added.

Leaders of the State Sector Bank Employees Association (SSBEA) and AIBEA had held bilateral and trilateral talks with the SBI management, the latter with the involvement of the Union Labour Commissioner.

“The State Bank management has been adamant and hence we have decided to take up the issue with the Union Government leaders,” Venkatachalam said.

Employees’ demand

The strike was called to press upon the State Bank of India management the demands to increase the quantum of home loans for employees of the associate banks, implement compassionate appointments in all cases and also to allow retired bank employees who are elected office-bearers of bank trade unions to represent the unions. Venakatachalam said Class IV employees in the associate banks get home loan of only ₹8 lakh and Class III ₹12 lakh, while employees of SBI and other public sector banks receive sums many times over.

He said this ‘discrimination’ was in spite of a government guideline.

The SBI management insisted that the employees in the associate banks should accept the ‘career progression policy’ formulated for the SBI staff before the higher home loan and other demands could be considered.

“The staff of the associate banks are totally against the career progression policy which aims to put more workload on the employees.”

Source :Business Line

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Friday, 8 May 2015

22:52

There is no Shortage of Money for the Railways

There is no Shortage of Money for the Railways

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu is busy turning around the 160-year-old transport behemoth, having laid out a rather ambitious Rs 8.5-lakh crore (Rs 8.5-trillion) investment road map for the next five years.

The focus is on tapping all possible resources, including foreign agencies, domestic institutions and leveraging rail PSUs, the 61-year-old banker-cum-politician tells Jyoti Mukul and Sudheer Pal Singh in an interview. Edited excerpts:

How have you taken forward the investment road map rolled out in the Budget?

The white paper we brought out was a diagnosis of the financials.

And one of the points that came out as a result of this diagnosis was that there is under-investment in the railways.

With a Rs 8,50,000-crore (Rs 8,500-billion) Plan size for five years, we are focusing on investment to decongest our network and improve the throughput so that we can increase our earning capacity.

We will leverage the books of public sector undertakings.

Projects where the internal rate of return is higher than the dividend will be taken up.

Financing of railway projects cannot be left to depend entirely on internal generation.

It has never happened anywhere in the world.

That is why our dependence on budgetary support and extra-budgetary resources has gone up.

Revenue will increase when volume will increase which, in turn, will increase if you increase the capacity to handle more traffic.

Otherwise, revenue and profit will never increase.

This is the simple philosophy of any organisation.

We will leverage the books of public sector undertakings.

Projects where the internal rate of return is high will be taken up on priority.

Multilateral agencies are willing to provide us assistance.

Also, we will get money from tax-free bonds which the Finance Ministry has already announced.

As of now, there is no problem of shortage of money for the railways.

Wouldn’t it lead to excessive dependence on debt?

Gross budgetary support from the government cannot be the only source for investment. Worldwide, for financing railway infrastructure, debt is taken.

Currently, the debt liability of Indian Railways is just 13 per cent of the traffic receipts, which is lower than in other countries.

For instance, debt was 41 per cent of the German Railways’ total revenue of 39 billion euros in 2013.

What kind of financing model will be put in place for funding projects?

We are exploring the possibility of adopting the annuity or deferred payment model for implementing projects through PSUs.

SBI Caps is rendering financial advisory services to us.

Of the total of Rs 8,50,000 crore (Rs 8,500 billion), Rs 2,50,000 crore (Rs 2,500 billion) would be through market borrowing, including IRFC borrowing for rolling stock.

We will use funds from Life Insurance Corporation, pension funds, etc.

This does not include lending from multilateral agencies, which will come through gross budgetary support from the ministry of finance.

We have the model of leasing through IRFC and it has worked well.

Seventy seven projects worth around Rs 1 lakh crore (Rs 1 trillion) have been shortlisted which we will focus on doubling.

Image: President Pranab Mukherjee shakes hands with the new Cabinet minister Suresh Prabhu after administering him oath of office. Photograph: PTI photo

Your ministry has just announced the implementation of 39 Budget announcements in 36 days since April 1. But critics point out that most of these are related to relatively small and non-core issues.

All of our efforts are customer-centric.

Our Budget document is a five-year plan and this plan is being unfolded by way of the Budget being passed.

So, what we are trying to do is to implement each and every point I have made in my Budget speech.

All of them have been turned into action points.

That is why in the first month itself we have managed to implement 39 of the Budget announcements.

In addition, we have started online monitoring called E-Samiksha of all the projects.

Have you managed to bring the protesting trade unions on board on key issues, such as privatisation?

The unions, which were considered a part of the problem earlier, have become a part of the solution now. Representatives of both the trade unions came and met me today.

And they have told me that the entire organisation was demoralised earlier and I have re-energised it.

So, we are trying to engage with them and work with them.

What role has been envisaged for the Rail Tariff Authority?

We have started the process of setting up a working group to draw the contours of a railway regulator.

The regulator’s role will be more than just tariff.

It will be entrusted with making regulations, setting performance standards and determining tariffs.

It will also adjudicate among licensees and private partners.
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