Why Railway Budget is More Important than Union Budget

As Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu readies to present the Narendra Modi-government's first full-year Rail Budget on Thursday, a respected industry voice has come out and said it is a more important event than the Union Budget itself.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is due to announce the Union Budget on Saturday.

"According to me Railway Budget is more important than this (Union) Budget. The fact is Railways is the lifeline of the entire industry and the country," Former Maruti Suzuki managing director Jagdish Khattar told NDTV. Mr Khattar is now the chairman and managing director of Carnation Auto.

The veteran industry captain said he is not a great believer in the Union Budget, anyway.

"I am not a great believer of Budget, if you look at the speeches of the previous Finance Ministers, the promises they made were concerned with other ministries and they never implemented them. So I think major changes have to take place to come from the ministers themselves to implement it," he said.

The industry is looking forward to Mr Prabhu to pitch some innovative ideas in his Railway Budget that would attract investment, he said.

"The fact is Railways is the lifeline of the entire industry and the country. It needs so much of investment, government doesn't have money. Is Mr Suresh Prabhu he coming forward with some innovative ideas to make investment in Railways? ...because it will give a boost to many other industries."

India Inc expects the chartered accountant turned politician Mr Prabhu to lay the roadmap for attracting private investment in Railways in a bid to raise more funds for project completions and infrastructure expansion.