With operating ratio of 107.39%, Railways could not generate surplus in 2021-22: CAG

The Railways recorded an operating ratio of 107.39 per cent in 2021-22 which indicates a lower ability of the national transporter to generate surplus, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said in a report.

The CAG's report on railways finances presented in Parliament on Tuesday provides an analytical review of the finances and accounts of the Indian Railways and is based on the audited accounts for the financial year ended March 31, 2022.

The report states that there was a loss of Rs 68,269 crore in all classes of passenger services during 2021-22. The auditor, however, said that this loss had decreased as compared to previous year.

The CAG said that the entire profit of Rs 36,196 crore from freight traffic was utilized to cross subsidize/compensate the loss on operation of passenger and other coaching services. The loss of Rs 32,073 crore from passenger operations was left uncovered during 2021-22, it said.

"The Railways' operating ratio (OR), which represents the ratio of working expenses to traffic earnings, was 107.39 per cent in 2021-22 against 97.45 per cent in 2020-21. A higher ratio indicates lower ability to generate surplus. The Indian Railways could not generate net surplus during 2021-22 as it had done in 2020-21 with an operating ratio of 97.45 per cent.

"This was due to higher appropriation to Pension Fund during 2021-22," it said.

The report also found that the total expenditure (revenue and capital heads) of the Ministry of Railways in 2021-22 was Rs 3,96,658.66 crore (35.19 per cent more than previous year) which comprised Rs 1,90,267.07 crore (22.61 per cent more than previous year) of capital and Rs 2,06,391.59 crore (49.31 per cent more than previous year) of revenue expenditure.

The ministry incurred around 75.47 per cent of the total working expenses on staff cost, pension payments and lease hire charges on rolling stock.

The report said that against the revenue receipts of Rs 1,91,367.01 crore, which was 35.93 per cent more than 2020-21, there was ‘net deficit' of Rs 15,024.58 crore in 2021-22. The net deficit was due to the working expenditure to the tune of Rs 2,06,391.59 crore which constituted 49.30 per cent increase as compared with previous year.

"Inadequate generation of internal resources resulted in greater dependence on Gross Budgetary Support and Extra Budgetary Resources. The amount of Extra Budgetary Resources was Rs 71,065.86 crore which represented a decrease of 42.31 per cent as compared with 2020-21," the CAG said in its report. It also said that unsanctioned expenditure of Rs 6,082.77 crore involving 1937 cases was incurred by the ministry, which was 1.06 per cent of total expenditure during 2021-22.

The report also found that the Railways was not able to follow the guidelines of the government regarding digital payment/limited cash transactions and made cash transactions amounting to Rs 2,395.52 crore from 2017-18 to 2021-22.