Indian Railways will go in for market borrowing of Rs 15,000 crore in 2012-13 to part finance its highest-ever plan investment of Rs 60,100 crore proposed for next fiscal.
This market borrowing will be done through the Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC), which is the market borrowing arm of the Railways, the Railways Minister, Mr Dinesh Trivedi, said in his Railway Budget speech in Parliament today.
The borrowing target for 2012-13 is almost at the same level as the actual borrowings of Rs 14,660 crore done by IRFC so far this fiscal. IRFC is not expected to raise more funds in the remaining days of this fiscal.
Besides the market borrowing of Rs 15,000 crore, the annual plan investment is to be financed by gross budgetary support of Rs 24,000 crore, internal resources of Rs 18,050 crore and Railway Safety Fund of Rs 2,000 crore.
For 2011-12, IRFC was budgeted to borrow Rs 20,454.38 crore, out of which Rs 11,800 crore was to be routed to acquiring rolling stock for the Railways and another Rs 140 crore for Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), which invests in various bankable rail-link projects with private partnership.