'Bleeding Railways', Rahul Gandhi? PSU Braithwaite's stellar performance a reality check

Indian Railways' PSU Braithwaite & Co recently released its performance report and an analysis of its future expectations in terms of its business growth plan in a post-pandemic setup, and the numbers entailed not only tell the kind of success story that is rarely heard from public undertakings, but also serves the direct purpose of silencing detractors who have been fearmongering about the state of India's crown jewels. Chief among these opponents is former Congress president Rahul Gandhi who just a day earlier had fired a 3-point attack at the Centre over the Railways.

Braithwaite's performance: Nothing short of stellar 

According to the official report of the 107-year-old British-founded PSU, Braithwaite saw a nearly 337% increase in its sales as compared to 2017-18 and an 80% increase as compared to the year 2018-19. The Ministry of Railways’ undertaking has under the current regime gone from a loss making company in 2014-15 to a company that recorded its highest ever profit last financial year. Along with this, the Basic Sales of the company has skyrocketed by 380.67% from the 2014 to 2019.

The stellar performance of the Indian Railways’ PSU is a case study that completely contradicts and smashes to smithereens anything Rahul Gandhi said about governance and our Railways. It also put the onus on him to quantify at least one of his claims. 

Given the COVID-19 pandemic, that hit the nation in the first half of 2020, Braithwaite continues to combat challenges. One of the oldest PSUs, it faced a two-pronged battle after the state of West Bengal was hit by cyclone Amphan. Despite this, the Railway PSU has managed to continue production and sales in its units witnessing only a marginal decline in its financial parameters in the first quarter. 

The PSU which had a lowly credit rating of ‘B’ in 2012 has also seen a spike in its credit ratings by building bank confidence as well. It is now looking for an expansion in India and abroad harnessing the ideals of the Make in India initiative. Domestically, Braithwaite has signed an MoU with Jindal Stainless Ltd for developing steel bridges, girder, ROB & FOB. Internationally the Railway PSU has been successful in bagging a contract with Germany's ROBEL for self-propelled Unloader and other vehicles. It is also looking towards expanding in vessel and shipbuilding business.

In terms of the exports, Braithwaite has successfully exported bogies, oil wagons and tank cars, to countries such as Ghana, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam Sri Lanka and others. The Indian Railways PSU aims to achieve a target growth of Rs.1140 crore in the financial year 2020-21, and double it by 2022-23 at Rs 3000 crores.

Braithwaite, established over 107 years ago in 1913, started as a fabrication shop in Calcutta using imported girder sections to build bridges. One of the oldest PSUs in the country today, it was nationalised in 1976 and in 2010, its administrative control was taken over by the Ministry of Railways from Ministry of Heavy Industries. It has contributed to some of the nation's biggest infrastructure achievements including the Brahmaputra bridges, Ganga bridge, Yamuna bridge, Vidyasagar Setu amongst others. 

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Indian Railways' endeavours during pandemic and lockdown 

While the Congress party continues to hit out at the Indian Railways for 'benefitting' from the citizens during the lockdown and 'looting the people' by running Shramik Trains, data has revealed that the government spent a whopping Rs 2,142 crore on operating Shramik Special trains transporting over 15 lakh stranded migrants, earning a mere revenue of Rs 429 crore.

While Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has slammed the Centre for its 'anti-poor' decisions when it comes to its measures regarding the Indian Railways such as privatisation, reports only show how the Indian Railways has been undergoing massive development over the last few years. 

Amid the pandemic, Railways emerged at the forefront, not only ensuring that there was a constant supply of foodgrains across the country but also aiding the frontline warriors by turning their production units into manufacturing hubs of PPEs. The East Coast Railway (ECoR) zone alone loaded nearly 48.5 million tonnes (MT) of freight in 12,680 trains between March 22 and June 30 transporting essential commodities, medical equipment and PPEs amid the pandemic. During this time, Indian Railways also produced over 1.91 PPE kits and 7.33 lakh masks for COVID warriors, aside from their life-saving efforts to convert bogies into Covid isolation and treatment wards. 

The Indian Railways has also launched a massive initiative of turning its bogies into 'green railways' by 2023, achieving zero carbon emissions through--railway electrification, green certification for installations/stations, fitting bio-toilets in coaches along with improving the general energy efficiency of locomotives and trains. 

With such mammoth initiatives and endeavours on the part of the Indian Railways, perhaps the questions that Rahul Gandhi is asking are better served being answered by those who were in-charge over the vast majority of Independent India's history, given that historically the Railways has faced losses on a yearly basis, seen negligible growth given the decades-long time-frame, and is in dire need of wholesale upgradation. 

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