The national transporter owes oil companies more than Rs 1,000 crore in diesel bills, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal told the Parliament on Wednesday.
Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Goyal said the payment of fuel bills was a continuous process, and the bills keep coming "periodically" and were also cleared in the same manner.
The Union minister said bills amounting to Rs 1,384 crore were being processed for payment currently.
It owes Indian Oil Rs 1,037 crore, Bharat Petroleum Rs 154 crore, Hindustan Petroleum Rs 61.53 crore, Reliance Industries Rs 115.60 crore and Nayara Energy Rs 15.96 crore.
Goyal said the national transporter did not owe anything for electric traction.
The minister said it was difficult to work out the impact of the increase in diesel prices on the railways as the cost of the fuel had risen and decreased multiple times.
He said the railways had earmarked Rs 22,179 crore for diesel traction in budget estimate 2019-2020.