Single budget will save Railways Rs. 10,000 crore

The cash-strapped Railways will save about Rs 10,000 crore annually as it will no longer have to pay dividend if the separate Rail Budget is scrapped, which is likely to happen from next fiscal.

Details:

• A joint committee set up to finalise the modalities for the merger of Rail Budget with the General Budget has submitted its report to the Finance Ministry recommending various changes including waiving off of payment of dividend by railways though the practice of getting gross budgetary support (GBS) from the exchequer will continue.
• Railways pays about Rs 10,000 crore as dividend a year after getting about Rs 40,000 crore.

The General Budget to be presented by the Finance Minister will also have a separate annexure with details of plan and non-plan expenditures to be incurred by the national transporter, according to the recommendations of the joint committee comprising senior officials from the Railways and Finance ministries.

The recommendations will be placed before the Cabinet for a final decision, the sources said.

The report on the merger of the Rail Budget and General Budget, was to be submitted by August 31 but was delayed and finally submitted on September 8.