Indian Railways announces non-fare revenue policy to garnerRs.16,500 croreYes you

Indian Railways announces non-fare revenue policy to garnerRs.16,500 crore

Railways to also introduce train branding policy to augment advertising revenue by allowing internal and external advertisement.

In a bid to shore up its non-fare revenue, the Indian Railways on Tuesday announced a policy to explore areas like advertising in trains, stations and other assets, and setting up of ATMs at platforms.

Under the non-fare revenue (NFR) policy, an evaluation committee at divisional and zonal level will examine need, operational and legal feasibility of the project and technical and financial capacity, a statement issued by the ministry of railways said.

In addition, right of first refusal will be offered to the proponent to match the highest bid. The national carrier will offer non-fare revenue contracts for a period of five years.

The national carrier also plans to introduce a dedicated ‘out of home’ advertising policy for monetisation of its assets through advertising. Indian Railways had appointed RITES as consultant, which further appointed EY as a professional media market evaluation agency.

InfraCircle on 4 August 2016 reported that the national carrier was considering allowing advertising at unexplored spaces like overbridges, level crossing gates and along the tracks.

According to the policy, static advertising will not be permitted in station buildings, platforms, foot overbridges (leading to station area), etc, as they are covered in the rail display network.

The national carrier plans to advertise on a high-tech centralised network of 100,000 screens across 2,175 stations by 31 March next year. In addition, it also aims to call for tenders on a zone-wise basis for outdoor advertisements across road overbridges, road underbridges and level crossings, as reported by InfraCircle on 27 July 2016. 

“The railway display network is the most ambitious project in the world where we will install around 3,000 digital display screens across our stations. One can imagine the potential of digital advertising this will bring,” Union minister for railways Suresh Prabhu said.

The national carrier aims to garner revenue of around Rs.6,000 crore by the end of the contract. The Indian Railways will also introduce a train branding policy to augment advertising revenue by allowing internal and external advertisement. The national carrier expect more than Rs.2,000 crore by the end of the contract as reported by InfraCircle on 27 September 2016.

In another move to shore up non-fare revenue, the national carrier plans to set up ATMs at major stations to generate about Rs.2,500 crore.

The national carrier expects anotherRs.6,000 crore through its content on demand policy, which aims to allow monetisation of entertainment based services on trains and stations, as reported by InfraCircle on 12 September 2016.

Liked the story? Subscribe to our daily and weekly newsletter, InfraReads, to keep track of India's infrastructure space.