Tariff Authority to be Made an Appellate Body to Curtail Cross-Subsidization, President FIEO

Mr M Rafeeque Ahmed, President, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) while commenting on interim Rail Budget seeking approval of spending for first four months of fiscal 2014-15 of Rs 19,805 crore commended Indian Railways(IR) for  surpassing of targets of doubling gauge and electrification. However, while setting up of a Railway Tariff Authority is a decision well taken for the trade and industry given the cross subsidization of passenger fare there is a need for it to be structured into an appellate authority rather than an advisory one added Mr Ahmed.

FIEO Chief stated that rail freight rates in India are already high in relation to competitors/ China or even the US which adds to the transaction costs of doing business internationally besides reflecting the operational shortcomings of the IR whose overall market share in goods movement has fallen to below 30 per cent, from some 65 per cent till the late 1970s.

The time has come to try out dynamic pricing for passenger travel as has been done by airlines which have programmed systems for determining fares linked to travel date and real-time occupancy rates. The right to subsidised rail travel should be restricted only to the poor or migrant labour population.

President, FIEO stated that while railways has set an ambitious target of Rs 1 lakh crore for PPP in the 12th Five-Year Plan, to take off successfully the PPP projects need to transparent.

President, FIEO hoped that the completion of dedicated freight corridors and two new industrial cities under the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor for Mumbai-Bangalore and Bangalore-Chennai corridors would be expedited.