arhsiya
Arshiya International will be adding 10 trains to its existing fleet, as the domestic container rail business gains fresh ground.
Along with Arshiya, other private operators are also ramping up capacities on the back of projections of a spurt in movement of container rail cargoes, especially after the new GST regime is in place.
“Our railway business contributed Rs 272 crore to our turnover of Rs 1,054 crore last fiscal, and we see this share growing this fiscal. We are finalising plans to add 10 trains to our fleet of 15 trains in the next six months,” Mr Nijay N. Nair, Arshiya's Head (Strategic Initiatives), told Business Line .
Strategy to mature
Each container train has a carrying capacity of 90 20-ft containers or 45 40-ft containers — in volume terms, it is about 2,430 tonnes for each train.
Sharpening focus on railway business is part of Arshiya's strategy to mature from a service-driven business to an asset-driven company. Asset-based revenue, including earnings from its Free Trade and Warehousing Zones (FTWZs), accounted for 42 per cent of its earnings last fiscal, up from 24 per cent.
“We recently bagged major contracts for our rail business from Sterlite and JK White. We expect to sign another deal with a steelmaker in the next two-three weeks,” Mr Nair said.
Cutting Debt
Arshiya will also be focusing on trimming its debt and interest burden this fiscal — it is currently carrying a debt of Rs 1,700 crore. For this, it will be using the dollar earnings from its two FTWZs at Panvel and Khurja (near Delhi).
“We will be using these dollar earnings to convert a slice of our rupee debt into dollar debt. About 55 per cent of our total debt is for our FTWZ infrastructure,” he said.
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Published on May 15, 2012
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