Railway Minister, Mamata Banerjee today presented first Rail Budget of the new United Public Alliance (UPA) government.

Banarjee had stated that the budget would be `a pro-people budget, a simple budget, people`s budget`. Once announced, it immediately got a tag of populist budget by various media. Is it really so? Let`s find out. 

Banarjee`s railway budget though announces no change in passenger and freight fares has on platter lots to offer to the common public.

This includes setting up computerised tickets for 5,000 post offices, automatic train information services in major cities, non-stop train services in select cities, scheme : Izzat where in poor person having an income of Rs 1500/m would be able to travel up to 100 km by paying just Rs 25.

The common public had more to the platter when Banerjee announced that press persons will get increased concession of 50% instead of existing 30%. Once in a year their spouse can also travel with 50% concession, she added.

The railway minister sought an increase in the allocation for new lines from Rs 11 billion in the interim budget to Rs 29.21 billion.  Citing her predecessor Lalu Prasad Yadav`s estimates as `` unrealistically high`` she revised and set the target of freight traffic target at 882 mt for FY10 vs at 850 mt in FY09. She also set a target for goods earning at Rs 585.25 billion as against previously set Rs 590.59 billion and passengers earning at Rs 243.09 billion as against previous Rs 250 billion.

As common people cheered the budget announcement, railway related industries also joined in the merry making as news of public private partnership, setting up of new lines and acquiring additional 18,000 wagons for FY10 did rounds.

Companies whose revenue comes from railway business expressed glee on the news of the budget. These include BEML, Titagarh Wagons and Texmaco.

Shares of these companies however settled for losses. Shares of BEML declined by Rs 48.75 or by 4.51% to end at Rs 1,033 while that of Texmaco declined by Rs 6 or by 4.98% to settle at Rs 144.45. On the other hand, shares of Titagarh Wagons declined by Rs 21.95 or by 5% to settle at Rs 417.35.

``The railway budget is more reformist than populist``, says Gaurav Dua, Head-Research, Sharekhan. ``Rather than the giveaways in form of lower passenger tariffs, the focus is on productive utilization of spare land and develop infrastructure railway infrastructure under the public private participation model,`` he said adding that no increase in freight tariffs is also positive for many core sectors like steel, cement. 

Dinesh Thakkar, CMD Angel Broking has a different way of putting it. He says, ``The railway budget can best be summed as a pragmatic budget devoid of any major populist measures, adding that the budget was focused on inclusive growth and expansion of the railway network to every corner of the country.``

The freight tariff and passenger fares were kept unchanged, which is the right measure in the current environment, he notes. Though no major policy initiatives were announced, adopting the private-public partnership approach for development of railway infrastructure is a step in the right direction, he says. 

Further, according to him, identification of four dedicated freight corridors to be developed at an accelerated pace would provide a fillip to trade through rail and benefit the logistics industry.  All in all, he noted that the budget was a non-event from the markets perspective but pointed out that it was definitely a step in the right direction for the country.

From above one can make out that the budget has touched each entity in its arena be it public or corporate. Though from outside it may seem like a populist budget, this is actually a budget which would help provide a growth to the companies related to the infrastructure and logistics segment.

However, all said and done, the implementation is the key. Governments are known for braking promises they make. Hence, the success of the implementation of the project lies more on its implementation. It is rightly said, actions speak louder than words. While words may be forgotten, it is the actions that are remembered the most.