Railway Accounts Department Examinations

Showing posts with label earnings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label earnings. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Revenue vs Earnings




In Indian Railways, we use normally the word Earnings instead of Revenue.  Now we will check the difference between the two and is it correct to use the word Revenue in place of Earnings or not. 

Revenue minus Expenditure is equal to Earnings.

The difference between revenue and earnings is that while revenue tracks the total amount of money made in sales, earnings reflect the portion of the revenue the company keeps in profit after every expense is paid.

So Using the word Earnings so far in lieu of Revenue is incorrect.  Because Earnings means profits/surplus after deducting the expenditure from Revenue.  

So, here after

Abstract X -  Coaching Revenue

Abstract Y  -  Goods Revenue

Abstract Z - Sundry Revenue

It is high time to modify the Revised Accounting Classification in Finance Code Volume Two accordingly.

Thursday, July 9, 2020

NFR - Non Fare Revenue




NFR  - Non Fare Revenue

 

·         Part of Sundry Earnings

 

·         NFR consists of

 

1.       Advertisement on Trains, Railway Bridges & other Assets

2.       Setting up of ATM and other stalls at Railway Stations

3.       Digital Content on Trains and Platforms

4.       NINFRS (see below for detailed article)

 

·         Concept – 2010-11 year

 

·         NFR Directorate – 2014 year

 

·         NFR policy switched from Centralized governance (Railway Board) to Decentralizing (Divisions) in the year 2018

 

·         Earnings contracts period is reduced from 5 to 10 years to 3 to 5 years

 

·         NFR Target for 10 years (from 2010-11) is Rs.15000 Crores (Rs. 1500 Crores per year)

 

·         But 2018-19 year NFR is Rs. 33 Crores (against target of Rs. 1200 Crores)

 

·         Share of Sundry Earnings

 

 

Indian Railways

World wide

Sundry Earnings share

8 %

15 to 20 %

 

 

Simplification of Earnings Contracts (except Parcels & Catering)

Tender Amount

Tender Committee

Up to Rs. 50 Lakhs

No T C. Direct Acceptance by

SG/JAG/Sr.Scale 

(Independent charge) – subject to conditions

Rs. 50 Lakhs to Rs. 2 Crores

2 Member TC ( Comml & Finance)

Rs. 2 Crores and above

3 Member TC (Comml, Finance & User dept)

 

 

Contract Amount

TAA – Tender Acceptance Authority

Up to Rs. 5 Crores

Sr.DCM

Rs. 5 to Rs. 10 Crores

ADRM

Rs. 10 Crores to Rs.100 Crores

DRM

Rs. 100 Crores and above

PCCM

 

Extension of Contract

By

6 Months (2 spells of 3 months each)

Sr.DCM

Above 6 Months (Concurrence required)

DRM/CCM/PCCM

 

Direct Acceptance – Earnings Contracts

Railway Board letter - Direct Acceptance

ü    Constituting the Tender Committee is not required for awarding of the Earning Contracts up to Rs. 50 Lakhs by SG or JAG or Sr.Scale (Independent charge)

 

ü  Earning contracts are finalized expeditiously without prolonged Tender Committee Proceedings thereby avoiding loss of Revenue to Railways.

 

Requisites of Direct Acceptance of Tenders

 

ü  By SG or JAG or Sr.Scale Officers(Independent charge)

ü  Up to value Rs. 50 Lakhs

ü  Tender Committee not required

ü  Tendering through E-Tender and Open Tender mode only

ü  Minimum Notice Period – 21 days

ü  H 1 cannot be bypassed

ü  Negotiations if any, with H 1 only

ü  Reasonable Speaking Order by TAA – Tender Accepting Authority (about Tender evaluation & Acceptance)

ü  LOA  - Letter Of Award/Acceptance should be vetted by Finance (Object is to comply the above requisites or not)

 

NINFRIS  - New, Innovative Non Fare Revenue Ideas Scheme

·         New scheme - to increase Non Fare Revenue

 

·         Announced by Ministry of Railways in 2018. 

 

 

·         Object:  Promote new ideas and concepts for enhancement of NFR (Non Fare Revenue) and improve passenger convenience on IR

 

·         To classify an idea/concept as innovative - a similar proposal should not have been implemented on the concerned Division before. 

 

·         Replication - Divisions are encouraged to report success of such ideas and give wide publicity for possible replication across Indian Railways. 

Salient features:

ü  At Divisional level

ü  DRM – Divisional Railway manager -Full powers.

ü  Nodal Officer – Branch officer of Commercial Dept (Sr.DCM / DCM)

ü  Committee of Branch Officers of Commercial Dept, Finance Dept and Dept holding the assets to be used scrutinizes the proposals received and recommended to DRM for approval.

ü  Terms & conditions of the Agreement are accepted by the such committee with the approval of DRM

ü   Savings in expenditure if any, is added notionally as “deemed earnings” for the purpose of evaluation of project.

ü  Token non Refundable application fees Rs. 1000 – should be accompanied to each proposal.  Object of levying such fees is to avoid non serious ideas/concepts.

ü  Based on the importance  of the proposal, DRMs are authorize to decide the EMD – Earnest Money Deposit of not less than Rupees 10,000 /-

ü  Projects may be executed directly by the Divisions using their own manpower or through any Railway PSU or outside agencies such as NGO – Non Governmental Organisation, SHG – Self Help Group, Cooperative society etc.

ü  Period – One year or part there of.   Can be extended beyond one year with the approval of DRM. If Extended, Licence fees for extended period may be decided depending on the realization of the earnings of the Project.

Safeguards/Precautions

·         Should not be political or religious in nature.

 

·         No permanent structure should be constructed

 

·         Not violating the norms of aesthetics, environmental concerns, decongestion, safety and security, free movement of passengers, sanitation standards, temporary structures, fire, safety etc as prescribed under Railway rules.

%%%%

 

Thursday, January 30, 2020

NINFRIS - New, Innovative Non Fare Revenue Ideas Scheme


NINFRIS  - New, Innovative Non Fare Revenue Ideas Scheme


·         New scheme - to increase Non Fare Revenue

·         Announced by Ministry of Railways in 2018.  Click here for Railway Board letter on NINFRIS

·         Object:  Promote new ideas and concepts for enhancement of NFR (Non Fare Revenue) and improve passenger convenience on IR

·         To classify an idea/concept as innovative - a similar proposal should not have been implemented on the concerned Division before.  

·         Replication - Divisions are encouraged to report success of such ideas and give wide publicity for possible replication across Indian Railways.  

Salient features:

ü  At Divisional level
ü  DRM – Divisional Railway manager -Full powers.
ü  Nodal Officer – Branch officer of Commercial Dept (Sr.DCM / DCM)
ü  Committee of Branch Officers of Commercial Dept, Finance Dept and Dept holding the assets to be used scrutinizes the proposals received and recommended to DRM for approval.
ü  Terms & conditions of the Agreement are accepted by the such committee with the approval of DRM
ü   Savings in expenditure if any, is added notionally as “deemed earnings” for the purpose of evaluation of project.
ü  Token non Refundable application fees Rs. 1000 – should be accompanied to each proposal.  Object of levying such fees is to avoid non serious ideas/concepts.
ü  Based on the importance  of the proposal, DRMs are authorize to decide the EMD – Earnest Money Deposit of not less than Rupees 10,000 /-
ü  Projects may be executed directly by the Divisions using their own manpower or through any Railway PSU or outside agencies such as NGO – Non Governmental Organisation, SHG – Self Help Group, Cooperative society etc.
ü  Period – One year or part there of.   Can be extended beyond one year with the approval of DRM. If Extended, Licence fees for extended period may be decided depending on the realization of the earnings of the Project.

Safeguards/Precautions

·         Should not be political or religious in nature.

·         No permanent structure should be constructed

·         Not violating the norms of aesthetics, environmental concerns, decongestion, safety and security, free movement of passengers, sanitation standards, temporary structures, fire, safety etc as prescribed under Railway rules.

Success Stories - NINFRIS

1. Paid Gaming fun zone opens at Visakhapatnam Railway Station for passenger convenience. Rs. 3.6 Lakhs per Annum. 
     
      2. Health check kiosk was established at Kacheguda on payment basis. 

%%%%



Saturday, January 26, 2019

PPT on Earnings - By Shri Sundar Ram, Retd Member/Technical/RCT/SC

Earnings write up




Earnings – Write up

By Shri Sundar Ram, Retd Member(Technical)/RCT/SC

Importance of Earnings:

Why are earnings important? Earnings are important to generate “Surplus” (Profit).

So why is “Surplus” important? It is the surplus which allows us to spend money onexpansion of lines, purchase of rolling stock, and to meet all kinds of Capital Expenditure, especially because of the paucity of budgetary support. “Surplus” gives us money to replace assets (DRF), carry out Research and Development (RDSO!)

Surplus = Earnings –Expenditure = Earnings – (Fixed Costs* + Variable Costs)

* Here we are talking about money spent on Revenue expenditure and not Capital Expenditure. Fixed Costs (FC) are costs which do not vary with PKM and NTKM (such as Salaries, Depreciation etc.)

In contrast Variable costs (VC) vary directly in proportion to scale of operations (i.e. PKM and NTKM)

In railways conventionally we measure “Operating Ratio” (OR)



- Operating Ratio = (Expenditure/Earnings)X 100

- Operating Ratio is an indicator of how much railway spends for earning Rs100 and hence gives an indication of Surplus.

- To improve OR--We can increase the Earning or decrease Expenditure. Earnings can be increased with increase of Fixed Costs (FC) or without increasing Fixed Costs (by increasing PKM and NTKM with consequent increase of only Variable Cost (VC).

Concept of Contribution:

- Total revenue increases with each PKM or NTKM of traffic carried and similarly total VC also increases with each PKM and NTKM.

- Contribution per unit of traffic carried = Revenue per unit of traffic carried – variable cost per unit of traffic carried

- Total contribution = number of units of traffic carried X contribution per unit

- Total contribution is the fund generated to meet fixed costs and if total contribution is more than the total fixed cost for that year, we will generate “surplus”

- Surplus (S) = Total revenue (TR) – Total cost (TC) = TR-TC

                                                                                          =TR- (FC+VC) = (TR-VC) –FC                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                          =Total Contribution –FC

                                                                                          = (Contribution per unit x No. of units) –FC

Please note that: Contribution per unit = Sale price per unit- Variable Cost per unit

The concept of “contribution” is very important for railway finances because there are many situations where Surplus can be increased by increasing the volume of traffic carried without spending additional funds on incurring fixed costs. This is called “playing on volume”. For example we are said to be playing on volume, when we are trying to increase occupancy of a coach or even when we add extra coach to a train.

When we “play on Volume”, we reduce Total cost per unit since more NTKM or PKM will reduce Fixed Cost per unit-since the fixed cost is spread over more units of output (PKM or NTKM)

Please note that contribution is different for different products. For example the contribution for an AC 3-tier berth is much higher than unreserved seat in passenger train. So if we want more profit we need to sell more PKM on AC 3-tier. Similarly we get more contribution when we sell Tatkal berth.

Can you think of other cases of “playing on volume”?



Heads of earnings on IR:

Passenger Earning: This constitutes about 27% of Total Revenue (TR) of IR. These earnings are by and large linked to PKM (Passenger Kilo meter). To improve PKM without increasing FC

- increase fare per PKM (be careful-demand may reduce- people may move to flights) or increase    PKM (reduce idling of coaches – improve rake links)

- We have to find where there is unmet demand

- If unmet demand is in upper classes revenue generated is more since contribution is higher

- Where demand is less, move coach to train with higher demand

- Tatkal quota

- Move special coaches

- Dynamic fares (when demand is high charge more , when demand is less give discount – please note that an unoccupied berth does not give any earning, so we can sell such berth even at a very low price – remember your fruit merchant, he sells fruits at throw away prices when they are likely to get spoiled.

Freight Earnings: This constitutes about 64% of Total Revenue of IR and is considered as “bread and butter” of IR. These earnings are by and large linked to NTKM (Net Tonne Kilo Meters)

- To increase the freight earnings either we increase Freight per NTKM or we try to boost the NTKMs.

- Today we mostly carry Coal, Cement, Mineral and metal ores, POL, Food grains and Fertilizers – all low value goods so their capacity to pay revenue per NTKM is low.

- The total freight traffic carried by IR has come down from 89% of total goods traffic carried in the country to 40%- POL went to pipelines- Cement, Food grains etc are increasingly going to road. Even Coastal Shipping is taking away Cement Power sector allocation of Coal is rationalized to avoid cross traffic.

- Non availability of wagons to meet peak demand and surplus wagons in low demand season.

Strategies to Improve Freight Earnings:

Operating Strategies:

-Increase of CC of wagons (reduce tare- increase height)

-increase length of train (run long goods trains)

- improve speed limits of goods trains

-generate line capacity

-Improve loading unloading facilities

-Encourage customers to mechanize loading and unloading (to improve wagon turnaround)

Commercial Strategies:

´  Offer Mini rakes, two point rakes, multi-point rakes

´  Empty direction traffic generation

´  Cargo aggregation

        -     Concessions to loyal customers

´  Facilities such as Rail side warehousing,  private freight terminals

´  Schemes like Engine on load, wagon investment scheme

´  Connectivity to ports

´  Container Terminals and Multi-modal facilities

´  Dynamic Freight charges

´  Install accurate in-motion weigh bridges.

´  Develop strategies to re-attract wagon load traffic

Other Coaching Earnings

This constitutes other than earnings on account of PKMs

Parcel Traffic:

- Good for recapturing lost wagon load and smalls traffic

- For High value commodities

- Quick ad assured transit(no lorry can reach your goods to Delhi in 24hours like our Telangana Express)

- Leasing of VPU space (we fail in this because of poor contract management)

- VPU trains

-Use of room availability on coaching trains

- Use of SLR capacity (many SLRs are still going vacant)

-Refrigerated vans and terminals (our country loses perishables due to lack of refrigerated storage and transport)

Sundry Earnings

- World over Non-fare revenue of railways is 10 to 20% (In Hyderabad metro the non-fare revenue is far higher than Fare revenue)

- IR non-fare revenue peaked 6% in 2016-2017

- Difficult to increase fares for political reasons and elasticity of demand

- Non-fare revenue can be increased to any extant- but creativity is needed.

- Traditional sources- Catering, Book stalls, Telephone booths, Medicine Shops etc, advertising, sale of scrap, Luxury Tourist trains

- Modern sources- Internet Kiosks, Commercial exploitation of real estate, on train magazine shops, water ATMs, sale of organic food

5.0 Conclusion: Earnings should be improved as far as possible without incurring higher fixed costs, since this leads to higher margins. This requires improvement in asset utilisation like wagon Km/Wagon day, Engine Km per Engine day, line capacity utilisation. Only after these saturate we should go for higher fixed cost options like adding of new lines, new wagons etc.

                                                     &&&&