Indian Railways revenue expenditure FY 2001-2025

The total expenditure of the Indian Railways at the end of the fiscal year 2023 was around 2.4 trillion Indian rupees. This was estimated to increase to about 2.8 trillion rupees in 2025. The system is operated by the Ministry of Railways and is the fourth-largest railway network across the globe. 

Cost breakdown

The Indian Railways spent more than 40 percent of working expenses on their staff. This was followed by appropriations related to the pension fund and costs related to fuel. Employee salaries and pension related costs composed around two-third of its expenditure. This expense kept increasing with the implementation of each new pay commission. With more than 1.5 million employees, Indian Railways was the seventh-largest employer in the world. Engineers were the largest personnel group in the company.

Revenue distribution

The Indian Railways earned around 2.4 trillion Indian rupees in the financial year 2023. Rail freight constituted the highest share of revenue. In the passenger rail traffic segment, most of the income was from non-suburban rail-passenger traffic. Some other sources of revenue were non-passenger coaching and suspended accounts.