Revenue growth has been strong over the years. Indian Railways’ revenue reached US$ 23.30 billion in FY22 (Until March 10, 2022). The gross revenue stood at US$ 16.89 billion in FY21 (until March 10, 2021). In case of freight earnings, it experienced a year on year growth of 21.81% It stood at US$ 17.68 billion in FY22 (until March 2022) as compared to FY21 which was at 16.04 billion. Passenger earnings for Indian Railways was at Rs. 50,669.09 crore (US$ 7.25 billion) in FY20. The total passenger revenue stood at US$ 4.66 billion until March 10, 2022 as compared to FY21 which was at US$ 2.03 billion. This was a 162.46% growth.
The gross revenue stood at Rs. 85,588.96 crore (US$ 11.44 billion) in FY22 (until September 2021).
In FY22 (until September 2021), passenger earnings stood at Rs. 15,434.18 crore (US$ 2.05 billion) and freight earnings (until October 2021) stood at Rs. 78,921.86 crore (US$ 10.5 billion).
Freight earnings stood at US$ 16.04 billion in FY21. In October 2021, freight earnings stood at Rs. 12,312.76 crore (US$ 1.63 billion) and freight loading reached 117.35 million tonnes.
Freight remains the key revenue earning segment for the Indian Railways, accounting for 79.1% of the total revenue in FY22 (until August 2021), followed by the passenger segment.
Freight remains the major revenue earning segment for Railways, accounting for 65% of its total revenue in FY20, followed by the passenger segment. In FY20-21, Indian Railways recorded the highest loading in freight transportation. Freight traffic carried by Indian Railways stood at 1,232.64 million tonnes in FY21. With this, the freight revenue of Indian Railways also increased to Rs. 1,17,386 crore (approx.) (US$ 16.04 billion) for the year 2020-21, as against Rs. 113,488 crore (US$ 16.10 billion) during fiscal 2019-20.
During FY20, passenger traffic in the country reached 8,086 million and is estimated to reach 12 million by 2031. In FY22 (until March 2022), passenger traffic stood at 3.23 billion.
In August 2021, freight earnings stood at US$ 1.43 billion and freight loading reached 110.43 million tonnes.
Since August 2020, the Indian Railways has run 450 Kisan Rail services and was able to transport over 1.45 lakh tonnes of agricultural produce & perishables
RailTel, a PSU under the Railway Ministry, which provides fast and free Wi-Fi across the Indian Railways network, announced its highest ever consolidated income of Rs. 11,660.05 million (US$ 158.48 million) for FY19-20. This income figure is a growth of 12.3% over the consolidated income of the financial year FY18-19.
RailTel, a PSU under the Railway Ministry, which provides fast and free Wi-Fi across the Indian Railways network, announced its highest ever consolidated income of Rs. 11,660.05 million (US$ 158.48 million) for FY19-20. This income figure is a growth of 12.3% over the consolidated income of the financial year FY18-19.
In June 2021, freight earnings stood at US$ 1.50 billion, which is 26.0% higher than last year’s earnings of US$ 1.19 billion, and freight loading reached 112.65 million tonnes, which is 11.19% higher than last year’s loading of 101.31 million tonnes.
In November 2020, India Railways announced that 40% of dedicated freight corridor (DFC) will be opened for traffic by end-FY21, while the entire 2,800 km route will be completed by June 2022.
India was among the top 20 exporters of railways globally as of 2017. India’s export of railways has grown at a CAGR of 31.51% during 2010-2018 to US$ 507.90 million. Exports of railways in 2019E stood at US$ 635 million.
IIndian Railways is developing and creating technology in areas such as signaling and telecommunication with 15,000 kms being converted into automatic signaling and 37,000 kms to be fitted with ‘KAVACH’, the domestically developed Train Collision Avoidance System.