Indian Railways CEO Reveals Big Plans for Big Bucks

The state-run operator replaced a decades-old contract auction system with a digital one, which hopes to bring transparency and optimize the earnings from resources available to the world's fourth-largest railway network, carrying 23 million passengers daily.

Sputnik spoke with Vinay Kumar Tripathi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Railway Board about the new initiative.

Sputnik: You have said that Indian Railways’ earnings will increase following the e-tendering for commercial earning and non-fare revenue contracts. What is the basis of your claim?

Vinay K Tripathi: We have introduced e-auctioning for commercial earning and non-fare revenue contracts. Indian Railways makes about $1.3 billion annually from assets that come under this segment.

We have established a mechanism to monitor our assets in real-time, which will give information on whether a particular asset is covered for earning or not. This will minimize idle assets and increase earnings.

Sputnik: How much do you expect the increase in earnings to be, as you said the new system would minimize idle assets?

Vinay K Tripathi: We expect at least a 50 percent jump in our revenue from this segment which is currently around $1.3 billion.

Sputnik: You have carried out a pilot project before implementing this new tendering system. Could you elaborate on the results, and has the new system given the desired results?

Vinay K Tripathi: We have not limited our pilot project to any particular part of the country. [According to the Railway Ministry, 80 contracts with a total value of $16.3 million were finalized during the pilot launch.] The bidding offers received through the new system were much higher (ranging from 38-127%) than the conventional bidding. The result was more than satisfactory, removing all of the earlier anomalies.

Sputnik: Do you plan to expand the e-auctioning in other types of contracts as well?

Vinay K Tripathi: This is one model looking after only one part of our contract. We will slowly implement IT-based auctioning in all other segments as well. We want to eliminate human intervention from all the tendering processes. We will ensure that ordinary people interested in businesses with the Indian Railway would not have to interact with any official. They will file their application online and do business without human intervention.

We have started implementing many things in this direction. We have recently unveiled our wagon policy to encourage private participation in designing new freight wagons. So, this new system is also a part of our modernization process, and we will definitely expand it in more areas.

Sputnik: Many believe there is rampant corruption within the system of the Indian Railways. Do you think the new tendering process will eliminate this?

Vinay K Tripathi: Definitely. Eliminating corruption from the system is one of our objectives in introducing e-auction.

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