Bellary mining ban hits Indian Railways earnings

Wednesday, 17 Aug 2011

BS reported that Indian Railway earnings will take a hit of about INR 600 crore in the wake of Supreme Court’s decision to suspend mining operations in Bellary.

The railways have already scaled down its budgeted target for 115 million tonnes iron ore loading in 2011-12 by 3.43 million tonnes. The current potential would have to be further scaled down by approximately 10 million tonnes.

A senior ministry official said that the iron ore movement was earlier expected to bring in INR 9,035.31 crore during 2011-12, forming almost 13% of the overall budgeted freight target of INR 68,620 crore.

According to senior officials in the Railway Board, iron ore loading from Bellary declined 30% to around 16 million tonnes in 2010-11 from 23 million tonnes in 2009-10. Iron ore from the region, in fact, constituted 17% of the total iron ore loading in 2009-10 but fell to almost 13% in 2010-11. This year from April to June, only 3.25 million tonnes iron ore was loaded from the area.

Efforts will be made to load all other commodities to compensate for the shortfall, according to senior officials in the Railway Board. The district of Bellary produces about 35 million tonnes of iron ore annually, about 83% of Karnataka’s total annual production of 42 million tonnes.

Owing to ban on iron ore exports from Karnataka in 2010, there has been a loss of INR 1,071.45 crore to the Indian Railways. The earnings from iron ore exports in Karnataka plunged from INR 1,770.59 crore in 2009-10 to INR 699.14 crore in 2010-11.

According to a Comptroller and Auditor General report, “The annual growth rate of loading in the past decade consistently showed an upward trend till 2005-06 after which, there was a decline.”

(sourced BS)

Coal is gold for railways

Feb 25, 2011, 19:46
Press Trust of India

New Delhi : Coal used in generating power, manufacturing steel and cement, is among the main sources of income for the Railways and contributes over 38% of its freight earnings, according to the Railway Budget for 2011-12.

The Budget presented by the Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee today revealed that out of the expected Rs 62,489.33 crore total income from freights in 2010-11, coal was likely to contribute Rs 24,127.77 crore to the kitty.

The Indian Railway had earned Rs 58,501.68 crore from ferrying goods in 2009-10 in which coal transport contributed Rs 22,418.07 crore.

Hoping to ferry more coal, the railways has set a revenue target of Rs 68,620 crore for the next fiscal, which is nearly 10% more than the projected income in the current fiscal.

The Railways is projecting an earning of Rs 27,126.49 crore by transporting coal for steel plants, washeries, power houses and for other public users for the next fiscal.

Indian Railways had earned a total of Rs 23,488.17 crore by ferrying passengers in FY10, hopes to generate Rs 26,126.4 crore in the current fiscal and Rs 30,456 crore in FY12.

Transport of iron ore is the second highest source of income for the railways in the freight category. Railways had earned Rs 8,345.27 crore through iron ore transports and aims to generate Rs 8,423.83 crore in the current fiscal.

For the next fiscal, it targets to achieve Rs 9,035.31 crore revenue from transportation of iron ore.

Coal India, which accounts for over 80% of the country's production, targets 431.5 million tonne production for this fiscal. Its output target for 2011-12 is 460.5 million tonne.

Out of India's total 771.551 KWh power generation in FY10, 640.876 KWh was generated from thermal sources.

Tags: power houses, transport of iron ore, Coal India Limited,