Make rail projects bankable: FM

Finance Minister P Chidambaram today asked the Railways to present more bankable projects to help attract greater investments, hinting that it would have to pull up its socks than just depending on government support to flourish.

"Instead of finances, it is the ability to present bankable projects, which is a constraint," Chidambaram said in response to a demand for more funds for the Railways at the 75th anniversary function of the Indian Railway Accounting Service here.

He added that there was no dearth of sources from where the funds could be raised and both international and domestic markets needed to be tapped for the purpose. "The crucial issue, however, is preparing proposals that would be of interest to the investors," Chidambaram said.

The finance minister spoke after Minister of State for Railways R Velu said the government should take note of the resource constraint faced for the completion of even the existing projects. Velu sought to point out that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had assured of full government support for existing infrastructure projects.

Chidambaram said he recognised social obligations of the Railways. He, however, added that a strong financial health in turn created a lot of room for pursuing social objectives.

He also gave instances of public sector units like the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), whose commercial success had enabled them do justice to their social objectives.

The finance minister said the Railways' accounting, rather than resorting to mere book-keeping, should look at innovative methods of financing, reining in expenditure and raising its practices to international standards. "Simple practices like cash flow management sharply improve finances," he said.

Listing the initiatives taken by the Railways, Railway Board Financial Commissioner Vijaylakshmi Vishwanathan said the Railways was in the process of bringing about accounting reforms to bring its accounts on par with international standards.