India Inc hails Rail Budget as being 'growth-oriented'

Industry in India has termed the Railway Budget for 2016-17 as “growth-oriented”, saying the three new freight corridors envisaged by 2019 will help reduce transportation costs, even as it described the revenue generation target of Rs 1.84 lakh crore as a “strong challenge”.

Rajeev Jyoti, CEO, L&T Railway Business said, “The Railway Minister has been very aggressive to retain a pretty high revenue target of Rs 1.8 lakh crore. I think this is a strong challenge considering there are challenges on GDP growth, and so on.”

“The focus on completion and implementation of projects is good. The creation of three new corridors will act as a catalyst for reducing the logistics cost,” CII President Sumit Mazumder said.

“Initiatives towards developing an integrated railway network, greater emphasis on dedicated freight corridors, and improving port connectivity, as well as North East connectivity would go a long way in expanding the freight business,” Ficci President Harshvardhan Neotia said.

“The Railway Minister has given a no-tariff hike budget without compromising on capital expenditure for increasing carrying capacity of both passengers and freight even in a challenging economic environment marked by a severe slowdown in the commodity sectors,” Assocham President Sunil Kanoria said.

Meanwhile, KASSIA has welcomed the Railway Minister’s announcement to work with the Karnataka government for suburban rail. “This will go a long way in reducing daily traffic signals and congestion in Bengaluru,” said KASSIA President V K Dikshit.
DHNS and PTI

Carmakers cheer rail auto hub
The proposal to set up India’s first rail auto hub in Chennai will provide a big support to the automobile industry, facilitating transportation of vehicles from manufacturing plants to respective destinations, carmakers have said.

Hyundai Motor India Senior Vice-President (Sales & Marketing) Rakesh Srivastava said, “Last-mile connectivity, reduced logistic costs and time, (are) addressed in one big infrastructure move enabling mass transportation of vehicles with the auto hub at Chennai giving a big support to the auto industry.”

Welcoming the proposal to develop rail side logistics parks and warehousing in PPP mode, Renault India Operations Country CEO and MD Sumit Sawhney said, “This is indeed a welcome move, as it will bring in significant efficiencies and reduction in logistics costs for many automobile OEMs in and around the Chennai region, including us.”