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.
The borrowing target for 2012-13 is only slightly above the current fiscal's actual borrowing level of Rs 14,800 crore.
Borrowing arm
This borrowing will be done through the Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC), which is the market borrowing arm of the railway.
For 2012-13, IRFC is budgeted to borrow Rs 15,000 crore, out of which Rs 14,896 crore will go for investment in rolling stock and projects and another Rs 104 crore for Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), which invests in various bankable rail-link projects with private partnership.
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.
Rolling stock
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, another Rs 140 crore for RVNL and Rs 8,654.38 crore for infrastructure project financing.
However, IRFC has been able to mop up only Rs 2,000 crore for infrastructure project financing during the current financial year.