Indian Railways Earns Over Rs 1,500 Crore As Non-Fare Revenue Through E-Auction

Indian Railways has earned more than Rs 1,500 crore as non-fare revenue in e-auction of commercial assets like parcel space, catering stalls and parking lots among others.

Discarding the manual system, the railways has now switched to the online bidding system for selling of slots for various commercial activities like advertisement, maintenance of washrooms through pay and use, setting up massage parlour and pod hotels at stations.

There are about 2,000 vendors till now who have registered for e-auction since the launch of the system a month back. One has to deposit Rs 1,925 as one-time registration fee for participating in the e-auction.

According to the railways, the online system has got good response as the whole exercise is being carried out in a transparent manner. No one has to come to the railway office for getting the assets or for depositing the required fee. Till now, 2,500 lots have been sold online with the value of Rs 1,568.27 crore.

Kharagpur Division, Mumbai CST Division, BCT Division have shown best results in selling the assets through e-auction.

The railways has identified about 20,000 assets to be e-auctioned across the country giving the vendors choice of participating in the bidding without interference from anywhere.

As far as Northern Railway is concerned, it has sold assets worth Rs 205.03 crore through e-auction.

Northern Railway General Manager Ashutosh Ganagal said all the divisions have performed exceptionally well in creation of assets and timely allotment of lots by encouraging the bidders to participate in e-auctions.

While Ambala Division has earned Rs 31.47 crore, Delhi Division Rs 115.70 crore, Ferozpur Division Rs 29.08 crore, Lucknow  Division Rs 11.51 crore, Moradabad Division Rs 17.26 crore.

Besides boosting passenger and freight earnings, a concrete action plan has been formulated to increase non-fare revenue of the railways.