OREANDA-NEWS. The Minister of Railways Shri Mallikarjun Kharge received a cheque of maiden interim dividend amounting to Rs. 4.90 crore from Shri D P Pande, Chairman, Pipavav Railway Corporation Limited (PRCL) & Member Traffic, Railway Board and Shri Pankaj Malviya, Managing Director, PRCL for the financial year 2013-14, at a function in New Delhi today. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge said that it is heartening to know that this Joint Venture has now come in a position to give dividend. This Company is a success story of Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative which is required for such infrastructure development projects. Shri Arunendra Kumar, Chairman, Railway Board also appreciated the success of PRCL. The interim dividend for the current financial year 2013-14 was approved by the shareholders in their meeting held recently. Also present among others on the occasion were Board Members, senior officials from Railways and PRCL..

The Company has registered a profit of Rs. 67.36 crore Profit Before Tax (PBT) and Rs. 46.41 crore Profit After Tax (PAT) and has a net worth of Rs. 207 crore as on 31st March 2013. During 2012-13, the Company has carried 6.86 million tonnes of cargo on the Pipavav line and earned revenue of Rs. 178.98 crore from its freight operations as compared to 6.83 million tonnes of cargo moved and revenue of Rs. 151.28 crore earned during 2011-12, indicating a growth of 18% in revenue, despite economic slow-down.

PRCL has been formed as a Joint Venture Company with equity participation of Ministry of Railways and Gujarat Pipavav Port Limited to undertake the construction, operation and maintenance of the 271 kilometres long broad gauge rail line between Surendranagar and Pipavav port. This Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) was created under Public Private Partnership (PPP) and is the first flagship joint venture. PRCL Company had successfully completed the construction of the Surendranagar - Pipavav railway line project which began operations in April 2003.

In the current financial year (2013-14) up to September 2013, the Company has carried 4.23 million tonnes (approx) of cargo and earned revenue of Rs. 112.86 crore (approx) compared to 3.11 million tonnes (approx) of cargo and revenue earnings of Rs. 78.57 crore (approx) during the corresponding period of last year. There has been a cumulative growth of 36% in the volume and 44% in revenue earned during the first 6 months of the current financial year as compared to the corresponding period of previous financial year.

The Company’s books of accounts are audited by the Comptroller & Auditor General of India and for the last three consecutive years, the company has received NIL remarks from the apex audit body.

The Company is also a container train operator and is in the process of carrying out a study for reviving this business segment. The Company has pioneered running of double stack container trains in Indian Railways and recently all the infringements for running Double Stack Container Trains with 9 Ѕ ft. high cubes, have been removed on PRCL section at a cost of Rs.11 crore from its own resources and also with some assistance from Government of Gujarat under ASIDE Scheme, obtained by the Company. First Double Stack (high cube) containers train left APM Terminals Pipavav on 17th July, 2013 and now this has become a regular feature.

The company has planned to undertake track capacity works on the section to meet with the growing volumes of EXIM. These works will be executed by Western Railway in phased manner in three years.