AIRLINES

Union Budget 2011: Airlines to pass on

service tax increase
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Airline stocks dipped after the budget increased the service tax on air travel by
two per cent from ten per cent. This implies that passengers will have to spend Rs 50 more for domestic
travel and additional Rs 250 for international travel.

All the three listed companies, Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and SpiceJet were down at least by a
percent and more after a good opening on Monday.

The air services were brought under the gambit of service tax last year and this was capped at Rs 100 on
domestic routes and Rs 500 on the international routes based on the gross value of the ticket. This would
now be Rs 150 on the domestic routes and Rs 750 on the international routes.

"The hike in service tax is a direct impact for the airlines and in this regard the price of the ticket will
reflect it directly," said an airline executive with a private carrier. "But Rs 50 and Rs 100 is a reasonable
increase," he added. The tax will be applicable from 1 April.

Aviation experts, however, question the timing of the move especially when most of the airlines are
reaching a point where the business is not burning cash and is into a recovery mode. Though most of the
aviation experts agree the increase will not negatively impact the demand which has seen a revival. The
sector grew at 18% last year and is pegged to grow by at least 20% in this financial year.

"The timing for such a move is not right, especially when the sector is just reaching breakeven point. We
were looking for a favourable policy and this tax increase will have a negative impact on passenger
psyche as overall costs to them will increase. However, as long as the country's economic growth is
intact, passenger growth in the long term will remain unaffected by such increase in taxation," said Kapil
Arora, infrastructure partner, at audit and advisory firm, E&Y.

Airlines already increased fares twice in the last couple of months because of the fuel prices going up. Jet
Airways had raised fares on domestic sectors by Rs 100 and Rs 200 last week (other airlines will follow
suit) to factor in the rising cost of the crude prices as the oil marketing companies hiked prices of the
aviation turbine fuel by four percent, which increased the prices by Rs. 2,104 per kilolitre in the ninth
consecutive rise in prices from October last year.

Though aviation experts feel the impact on demand will not be much as the service tax goes up but for
the low cost carriers the move does not augur well as it will negatively impact the low cost international
travel.

"The increase in service tax by 2.5% is not as much an issue as the unfair treatment to international
travel. This move of increasing the service tax will impact low cost international travel at a time when so
many domestic low cost airlines plan to fly abroad," said Kapil Kaul, CEO, South Asia, for Centre for Asia
Pacific Aviation.

Airlines, in fact, wanted a roll back of the service tax when they were bought under the service tax
umbrella last year after the budget, but eventually had to factor in this cost in the tickets.

"The tax burden has increased on the passengers and gives a feeling that the sector is elite and it can
absorb such tax hikes. The move will impact short-haul travel but have little impact on overall traffic
growth," Mr Kaul added. Passengers already pay a user development fee or airport development charges
which are added in their air tickets.

Jet Airways closed at Rs 415.45, down 0.94%, SpiceJet was down by 4.76% to close at Rs 38 and
Kingfisher Airlines closed at Rs 37.75, down 1.56 % on Monday

'Air fares to shoot up 14%

MUMBAI: Domestic air fares are likely to shoot up by 12 to 14%, domestic hotel tariffs may go up by 5 to 6% and
even car rentals are expected to climb in 2011. In short, inflation will affect many elements of our travel bills, making
them heftier than last years.

This forecast appears in a report published by a travel company on trends, outlooks and opportunities in corporate
travel. The report offers tips on how to cut a travel bill. The tips work for all kinds of travelers, not just the laptop-
carrying, suited kind.

For instance, buying an air ticket 14 days in advance drives up savings by 20% as against buying a ticket seven days
prior to the journey. Corporate travellers, best known in the airline industry for last-minute bookings, expectedly fail
here.

"Over 150 travel managers in large and mid-sized corporations with spend of more than Rs 30 million say that 50% of
their travel is booked less than three days before travel and only about 18% of tickets are booked seven days in
advance," said the Thomas Cook white paper.

If, like most corporate travellers, a passenger shuns non-refundable tickets because of the cancellation penalty, then
it would help to keep track of how often cancellations are made. For corporate travellers, only two out of every 10
tickets are cancelled, said the report, which makes a pitch for the cheaper, non-refundable tickets.

"It's a first-of-its-kind study, as we have extended the scope of this survey to corporate travel managers, CFOs,
hoteliers to elicit their responses," said Suraj Nair, vice-president, strategy and planning, Thomas Cook ( India) Ltd.
The report recommends controlling the cost per trip in totality rather than looking at individual expenditure heads like
airfare, room tariff, car rentals and so on.
Union Budget 2011: Northeast to get Rs
93 cr for airport development

NEW DELHI: Giving a major boost to the air transport segment for the remote northeast region, the government
Monday allocated Rs.93 crore in the union budget 2011-12 to airport development in the region.

"Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been provided with budgetary support of Rs.280.15 crore, out of which Rs.93.48
crore has been earmarked for development of airports in the northeastern states," according to the union budget
2011-12.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee allocated a total of Rs 9,071.56 crore to the civil aviation sector, which includes
Rs.7,371.56 crore in unplanned and Rs.1,700 crore in planned expenditure

Union Budget 2011: Air India to get Rs

1,200 cr fresh equity

NEW DELHI: National carrier Air India, reeling under a financial crisis, will now get an additional equity of Rs.1,200
crore ($250 million).

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee , in his 2011-12 budget presented in the Lok Sabha on Monday, said: "As a part
of the process for financial restructuring of National Aviation Company of India Ltd., an amount of Rs.1,200 crore has
been provided."

The proposal for restructuring was based on inputs from the national carrier and put up by newly-appointed Civil
Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi. Meanwhile, sources in Air India said the budgetary allocation was far lower than what
was actually demanded or even expected from the government.

"This fresh equity of Rs 1,200 crore is far less than what we actually require," a senior Air India official told IANS,
while adding that the airline requires Rs 17,500 crore to come out of its financial difficulties. Earlier, the central
government had infused Rs 2,000 crore of fresh equity in the flag-carrier last year, in two instalments of Rs 800 crore
and Rs 1,200 crore.

The airline management that time had proposed an infusion of Rs.10,000 crore which was examined by a committee
of secretaries, led by Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar. The committee then decided to provide Rs 2,000 crore
to the airline. Apart from the current infusion of Rs 1,200 crore, the airline has already received another Rs 800 crore
in February.

Air India had reported a decrease in its net loss for the fiscal 2009-2010, which stood at Rs 5,551 crore as against a
net loss of Rs 7,189 crore in the fiscal 2008-2009.
According to the airline, the results were muted due to increase in depreciation cost by Rs.164 crore and interest, and
financing charges of Rs 769 crore, which was an increase of 46 percent, on induction of more aircraft. The total
expenditure also decreased by 8 percent and stood at Rs.19,035 crore as compared to Rs 20,668 crore in the last
fiscal.

The company added that it has recorded an improved operating performance with a nine percent increase in
passenger load factor at 64.8 percent from 59.5 percent.

Highlights:

-- Rs 1,200 crore ($250 million) equity infusion from the government

-- Asked to rationalise wage structure

-- Equity infusion aimed to revive the ailing airline

-- The government released Rs.800 crore ($178 million) fund for revival of the airline.

Union Budget 2011: Airlines to pass on

service tax increase, fares to go up

NEW DELHI: Domestic air travel will cost more from the next financial year with the government raising service tax on
it by Rs 50 and Rs 250 for domestic and international journeys respectively.

Presenting the 2011-12 budget in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee also proposed to tax travel by
higher classes on the domestic sector at the standard rate of 10 per cent.

The hike in service tax on air travel would be effective from April one.

From then on, the tax on economy class domestic travel would stand at Rs 150 instead of the current Rs 100 and Rs
750, as against Rs 500, for international travel.

Domestic travel on Business or high class would attract a flat service tax of 10 per cent of the fare. This would bring
domestic air travel on higher classes on par with international journeys by the same classes, Mukherjee said.

However, there was relief to the Air India as the Finance Minister made a budgetary support of Rs 1,200 crore to the
ailing national carrier as additional equity infusion.

This would be the third tranche of equity for Air India, which received Rs 800 crore and Rs 1,200 crore respectively in
the 2009-10 and 2010-11 budgets.

A total expenditure of Rs 2,393.88 crore, both plan and non-plan, has been proposed for the Civil Aviation Ministry in
the budget.

The services being provided within an airport under the 'works contract' for specified purposes was being exempted,
the Explanatory Memorandum said.
The value of air freight included in the assessable value of goods for charging customs duties is being excluded from
taxable value for levy of service tax under the 'transport of goods by air' service, it said.

SHIPPING
BRT corridor system riddled with
loopholes: study

NEW DELHI: Once hailed as a progressive policy to ease traffic, Delhi's BRT corridor system has lost out due to
"poor implementation", a study conducted by an NGO claimed.

"Three years back, we had hailed the system as a turning point for urban development, but now detailed studies have
revealed that though the design of the system is good it is being poorly implemented," said Dunu Roy, Director of
Hazards Centre which undertook the study.

Though 89 per cent of bus commuters and 59 per cent pedestrians found the corridor to be beneficial, the study
claimed that 82 per cent of motorvehicle users, 89 per cent neighbouring shopkeepers and 54 per cent residents
around the BRT corridor did not find it useful.

"Statistics clearly show that although the system has been praised by any, it caters only to a select people. This
policy, like all other policies, seems to be very progressive at one glance. But when carefully analysed the loopholes
are only too evident," said Roy.

Poor facilities to cross the roads, lax security to penalise encroachers on pedestrian and cycle lanes, displaced
hawkers and vendors not being allowed back on the completed corridor are some of the problems cited by the study
which covered seven cities including Delhi, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Indore and Ahmedabad.

In Delhi, the BRT corridor is currently operational on a stretch of 5.6 km in phase I (starting point Ambedkar Nagar
and ending point Moolchand).

The study also revealed that majority of people considered travelling to be the biggest hazard (21.6 per cent to 74.65
per cent) as motorisation of transport has left little space for them on the roads.

"Roads have become live example of space where inequality, conflict and dynamics of power relations manifest
themselves in various ways," said Dinesh Mohan, the IIT professor considered the brain behind the BRT corridor.

Reassessment of the policies to introduce space for non-motorised vehicles, strict measures to curtail number of
private vehicles, assessing the needs, importance and legality issues of para-transit in cities, ensuring livelihood of
those connected to transportation and increasing number of buses are some of the recommendations made by the
study.

"Bringing about a comprehensive improvement in infrastructure and a series of reforms will go a long way in making
this venture a success," said Roy.
Govt to bring out captive port policy in
15 days: Shipping Secy

NEW DELHI: The government today said it will bring out a captive port policy in a fortnight to reduce the turnaround
time in ports of the country.

"Captive port policy will be out in 15 days. We are finalising the policy," Shipping Secretary K Mohandas told
reporters here on the sidelines of a CII summit on steel sector.

He, however, refused to share the details of the policy, by saying that it is still in the process of being redefined.

India has 13 major ports but they suffer from long turnaround time for goods. According to Economic Survey 2009-10,
the average turnaround time of major ports in the country was 3.87 days in 2008-09, against 10 hours in Hong Kong.

On the other hand, Adani Group promoted Mundra Port has a turnaround time of close to two days.

Turnaround time means the ships have to wait for long before they get space to stop.

Industry sources said that through the policy, the government is likely to allot captive berths at major ports to private
companies, which will enable them to utilise the given facilities exclusively for their own goods.

This initiative by the shipping ministry will provide a level-playing field to the private companies with their public sector
competitors, the industry sources said, while adding that the captive units will result in lower berthing and turnaround
time and ships would not have to wait for berthing.

The Shipping Secretary added the government is thinking to develop National Waterways No-5 between Talcher in
Orissa to Paradip port as it is a commercially viable project.

"It is a fairly big project with various components involving several arms of the government like waterways, Ministries
of Water Resources and Environment . A project is being structured for that and then, it will be put out for bidding," he
said.

Budget 2011: Shipping Tax should be at

par with road/rail; says Vinay
Kshirsagar, CFO, Shreyas Shipping &
Logistics
 MUMBAI: Shipping industry has sought rationalisation of taxes and demanded that many services that
are taxed be made at par with road and rail services. Vinay Kshirsagar, CFO, Shreyas Shipping &
Logistics has given the following expectations from the Budget.
1. The benefit of tonnage tax which was given to promote shipping has been taken back by the MAT
provision, which is at 19.93% on book profit and this has been charged on profit on sale of ship which is a
normal activity in shipping business.
2. The Floating personnel who work on foreign flag are getting NRI / exemption from taxation, where as
people working on Indian Flag Vessels are not getting the same, which makes the Indian Shipping
company staff cost costlier.
3. In order to promote Indian shipping, tax on Chartered Hire (Service Tax @ 10.3%) should be removed as it
adds to the cost because foreign owners will not take this cost.
4. Presently Indian logistics cost is higher as compared to advance countries. One way to reduce this is to
promote Multimodal transportation. However, in comparison with road & rail, service tax on domestic sea
transport is on higher side. Tax on shipping should be made at par with road / rail in order it to be
competitive. Also, government rail operators are enjoying exemption from service tax, which should be
brought to same level field with private sector.
5. Since the shipping is mode of transport whereby there is less burning of fuel & thus less emission of
Carbon. Thus, Carbon Credit should be to given to shipping industry.
6. Cabotage should not be relaxed; this will ensure promotion of Indian Shipping Industry. Cabotage is there
in advance countries like US also.
7. In Domestic Air Cargo movement, service tax is applicable at full rate. This should be removed / brought
down at par with road / rail in order to make it competitive.

Shipping Corp to up rates on shipments

to Europe sector

MUMBAI: Shipping Corp of India said on Thursday it will raise freight rates on cargo moving from the Indian
subcontinent to the European and Mediterranean ports by $200 per twenty-foot equivalent units from March 1.

The increase is for all bookings to North Europe, the UK, Mediterranean and Black Sea routes, the company said in a
statement.

The rates were being increased to meet the overall operations costs, it added
 RAILWAY

Train to Khajuraho and more: Rail

budget brings cheer to Agra

AGRA: At last tourists from Agra will now be able to take a train to Khajuraho, the historic heritage city in Madhya
Pradesh.

According to the new railway budget, presented Friday by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee , the daily Udaipur-
Gwalior Express is being extended to Khajuraho, bringing cheer to the tourism industry in the city of the Taj.

The demand for a train to Khajuraho had been hanging fire for the past three years after a new rail track had been
laid between Jhansi and the town famed for its historic temples with erotic sculptures that draws millions of tourists
annually.

"The tourists from Agra will reach Khajuraho in the evening, which means they will have to spend the night there.
Perhaps this will be good for the local hotel industry," says Vishal, a photography shop owner with business links in
Khajuraho.

The local tourism industry in Agra is also excited about the announcement to start a Shatabdi Express between
Jaipur and Agra.

Tourism industry leader Rajiv Tiwari and Rakesh Chauhan, president of the Agra Hotels and Restaurants Association
, said the new express train "would reduce dependence on road transport and indirectly bring down the air pollution
level."

"But, to be able to help Agra hotels, the train should reach Agra only by evening so that tourists spend the night here.
Otherwise the facility could prove detrimental to Agra's interests just like what is happening right now in relation to
tourist flow from Delhi. All of them return to Delhi in the evening. This does not help Agra's interests," they said

A new weekly train between Mathura and Kolkata via Agra would provide a great boost to domestic tourism, say the
industry leaders.

Two trains connecting Ajmer with the eastern states via Agra will also be helpful for the local tourism industry, says
Surendra Sharma, president of the Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society .

"It is indeed a great gesture to provide several new trains to connect pilgrim centres in north India from Haridwar,
Amritsar, Mathura-Vrindavan, Ajmer to Dwaraka in the west via Agra. The pilgrim centres of Lord Krishna's braj
mandal needed to be connected with the eastern states as a large number of Sri Krishna devotees come from that
area," Sharma added.
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birthplace Bateshwar will also be connected with a rail link during the
coming year.

The former Vajpayee government had announced a link between Bateshwar in Bar sub-division of Agra, and Etawah.
But the project was virtually shelved for want of resources.

Banerjee has also announced an international level training centre for railway employees in the Taj city.

In another development, the Mughal emperor Akbar's deserted capital Fatehpur Sikri will now be transformed into a
model station with heritage features.

Railway officials said the budget also proposes developing the Agra Cantonment railway station with help from UP
Tourism department.

Also, a new track, the third one, between Jhansi and Delhi will help speed up train movement, much to the advantage
of shoe exporters and handicrafts manufacturers who have their industry hub in the area.

"Between Tundla and Yamuna Bridge station we will soon have a double line and a daily new express train between
Jhansi and Delhi, called Chandel Express , will surely help Agra tourists either go to Khajuraho or return to Delhi,"
says Rajiv Gupta , representative of the Indian Industries Association .

With so many new trains touching or originating from the Taj city, tourism is all set to get a major boost, hopes
financial adviser Sudhir Gupta .

"I am keeping my fingers crossed hoping for some more benefits in the coming union budget for Agra, which has long
been at the receiving end," Gupta added.

Suppliers can count on Railways’

expansion drive

The Railway budget has attempted to balance the need to expand the country’s transportation network, at a time
when the Railways has been grappling with rising staff and pension costs due to the Sixth Pay Commission’s
recommendations.

Besides, the ban on iron ore exports from Karnataka has led to a reduction in volume of freight handled by the
Railways during the current financial year. Nevertheless, the budget’s procurement target of 18,000 wagons for the
year to March 12, is broadly in tune with earlier years.

And to help deal with the problem of wagon shortages, the budget has also made provisions for setting up two more
wagon units on a joint venture basis or along with private sector players. Although, it may take a few years to actually
set up and bring onstream these new wagon production units envisaged, the Streets concerned that in the medium
term it could eat into the market share of the existing two leading private sector suppliers.

For instance, Texmaco supplied 4,110 wagons to the Railways during year ended March 10. And in the case of
Titagarh Wagons, it was 2,847 during this period. Besides, there is lack of clarity as to when orders from the latest
procurement target will actually go to the respective players over the next few quarters.

The budget has once again highlighted the abysmally low levels of rail network expansion in the country since the
independence, and it was on average about 180 kms of new lines added each year. The objective of 1,017 km for
gauge conversion in the next financial year, coupled with new lines across 1,075 km, should help leading players, like
Kalindee Rail Nirman (Engineers) over the medium term.

And once again, there is lack of clarity as to when the orders start actually flowing in, coupled with the detailed
preparatory work required to implement such projects, led to investor scepticism. As a result, Kalindee Rail ended
13.4% lower at Rs 116.4 on Friday.

Apart from these suppliers, other players to benefit from an expansion in Railway’s network include SAIL , which
produced 1.2 lakh tonne of long rail steel products during the year ended March 10. In addition, BHEL supplies
electric locomotives to the railways. Kalindee Rail Nirman trades at a P/E of 14.9 times on a trailing four-quarter basis
and we are neutral.

Railways in danger of slipping into coma

When Mamata Banerjee stood up in the Lok Sabha today -- enroute to Kolkata’s Writers Building -- to present her
third (and probably the last) railway budget, it was well known that Indian Railways’ finances were in intensive care.
Her compulsion to use her ministry for showering goodies on West Bengal called at least for a visionary approach to
attempt to solve the seemingly intractable problems facing the Railways. From ballooning cost structures to less-than-
optimal traffic growth to a rising debt burden to severe infrastructure and governance problems, the cup of woes
before the Railways has been overflowing for some time.

The optimists were looking for miracles (against hope) in the following areas: For one, addressing the fundamental
challenge of accelerating freight traffic growth to 8-9 % (assuming a lower-thandesirable traffic growth to GDP
elasticity of 1.25) on a sustainable basis from the present dismal scenario of less than 4% growth in both tonnage and
net tonne kilometre.

Secondly, instilling execution discipline in projects already in disarray either due to bad governance or non-availability
of finances -- the most notable example being the critical Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC), whose timelines and
estimated costs have both gone for a complete toss.

Thirdly, an out-of-the-box aggressive marketing strategy to capture high revenue-yielding freight, which 21st century
India produces, in addition to recapturing lost market share in commodities transportation. Fourthly, to unleash a
transformational agenda of reform and restructuring to make Railways a nimble and future-oriented institution tuned
to its market realities and which works at arm’s length from its owner.

And lastly, sharp measures to drastically cut expenses to take the Railways out of a situation where it is spending
more to earn less. But when one looks at the budget that has been presented, the picture becomes gloomier despite
some window-dressing . The Railways is in danger of slipping from a ‘critically ill’ state to ‘coma’ .

For one, the reported profitability expressed in the form of its operating ratio (or the number of rupees spent to collect
100 rupees of revenue) at 92.1% does not stand the scrutiny of a simple back-of-the-envelope calculation. In her
operating ratio calculations, Mamata has not accounted for reduced dividend payments of around Rs 1,700 crore or a
lower appropriation of Rs 2,000 crore to the depreciation reserve fund. Or for that matter, a reduction of freight
tonnage by 20 million tonnes and sharp increase in working expenses. Even on a cash basis, this brings the
operating ratio close to 100%, and, if one follows the principle of accruals-based accounting, the Indian Railways is
losing far more than what it can afford.

Two: The largest ever capital investment programme of Rs 57,600 crore has an unsustainable and a never before
achieved debt financing of Rs 20,000 crore, with the further possibility of not being able to realise a substantial
portion of internal accruals worth Rs 14,000 crore. This is because the targeted freight revenue growth of 6% will be
nullified if there is even a nominal increase in ordinary working expenses due to higher manpower and energy costs.
Three: There is no appreciation , let alone a way forward, for the various serious structural anomalies facing the
Railways. These call for immediate reforms to address market challenges and to tackle emerging competition from a
fast-improving road network and a rapidly changing trucking industry.

East rules as Mamata announces project

after project but keeps mum on funding

NEW DELHI: West Bengal’s tempestuous Trinamool Congress chief expectedly rolled out a string of new railway
projects for her home state, although here as well as in the rest of the east, nobody is quite sure how many of such
projects would see the light of day.

Last year, Mamata was accused of focussing majorly on her home state, which is why on Friday she made it a point
to read out all the new connections she was doling out to the rest of the country. But even in her home state, not
many of the projects she had announced in 2010 actually have moved beyond the initial stages.

This year, with Railway finances being tight by her own admission, the overall concern is much more. Playing to the
gallery, yes, but of what use would it be if there isn’t much of a delivery ? Sharad Yadav started complaining about it
even while she was still speaking in Parliament , Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said he couldn’t understand the
railway budget very well, Orissa chief minister Naveen Pattnaik was equally vague about what all this might lead to,
while the Marxists in West Bengal dubbed her budgetary exercise as a fraud. Her genorosity, however, remained
intact as she doled out project after project with abandon : five industry projects and 16 new services for West
Bengal, and some for Bihar, Orissa and the northeast.

The same trend continued for announcements made for the rest of the country. Not a whisper about the funding was
apparent anywhere. While she did announce that the first coach will roll out of a new Rae Bareli factory in three
months, much of the projects she had announced in the last two years are still to get off the ground. “Work on the
second unit of the integral coach factory will start soon. We have decided that whatever problems exist, will get sorted
out and we will set up the Palakkad coach factory,” Mamata said. At the same time, a number of projects involving
long-term supply contract for locomotives, coaches and critical loco components at Madhepura, Marhowra,
Kanchrapara and Dankuni are delayed .

The minister explained that “since these project models are being attempted for the first time in the railways, it is
necessary to carry out due diligence. All these projects are progressing well and a core group of officers are working
on these PPP/JV ventures to take them forward.” For Manipur, she announced a railway connection to Imphal, plus a
new diesel locomotive centre. She announced the creation of a “non-lapsable fund” for railway projects in the
northeast, just so that these projects could progress. Two new rail industrial parks were proposed also for Jellingham
and New Bongaigaon.

If these projects materialise finally, it would be great, but as general feedback suggested, seeing is believing. West
Bengal, the biggest beneficiary of Mamata’s budgetary largesse in recent years, has witnessed very few projects
getting beyond the founda-tion stone laying stage. Take for instance, the proposed coach factory at Singur
announced last year.

This year, she blamed the state government for not giving land and she is now keen to set up a metro railways coach
factory at the same place ! The railways are already executing similar projects either on their own or through the
PPP/JV models at Budge Budge, Dankuni, Naopara, Anara, Tindharia, New Cooch Behar , Kharagpur, Haldia,
Guwahati and Kazipet. “I was disappointed with the budget. We would appreciate it if Indian Railways takes initiative
to expedite implementation of these projects as it would accelerate the progress of Bihar” said Nitish Kumar, chief
minister of Bihar. “Though railways have announced the setting up of a number of world class stations, not much
headway has been achieved because of the high costs involved. We are taking a relook at the parameters to provide
infrastructure that what will suit Indian passengers best. This work will definitely be taken up in the coming year,” the
minister said.