Assocham President Sunil Kanoria said Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu presented a no-tariff-hike budget without compromising on the capital expenditure amid “severe slowdown in the commodity sectors”.

“The Minister has lived up to his reputation of being a financial wizard in banking on non-budget resources for funding the capital plans. He knows it too well, there are limited options through the gross budgetary support,” Assocham President added.

“Though there have been slippages in the revenue target in the current fiscal, it has got more to do with the overall economic slowdown, more so in sectors like coal, steel and iron ore, which have been worst hit,” he noted.

“The project implementation would remain a key. The best thing is that the Minister is willing to challenge the age-old notion as if it is only through tariff hike that the organisation as important as the Railways can be turned around.” Kanoria commented.

“Increased involvement of the private sector both for passenger amenities like upgrading of stations and freight movement is a welcome sign and he is following a businesslike approach in moving towards the medium term targets of providing reservation on trains on demand and giving A-rated service to the freight customers. Besides, the plan to diversify his revenue source, other than the present narrow basket of a few commodities, is timely,” Kanoria said in a statement.

Assocham President urged the Finance Minister to back the Railways since it can be a great vehicle for reviving investment in infrastructure.