Bengaluru: The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) suffered an operational loss 82 per cent more than the previous financial year. While the loss was Rs 33.12 crore during the financial year 2014-2015, the loss for the financial year 2015-2016 was Rs 60.35 crore.
The audit report of BMRCL for the financial year was approved in its tenth annual general body meeting held on September 28. It was made public on its website recently. “The loss is on account of additional Reaches (stretches) being opened for commercial operations,” says the report.
According to the report, the revenue earned through non-fare revenue was Rs 16.78 crore, slightly lesser than previous year’s revenue of Rs 18.70 crore. Non-fare revenue includes ATM licence fee, technical training, property development and tender document fee.
BMRCL Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola speaking on the report said that it was not important to calculate the profit or loss ratio, but see the number of commuters increasing. “We were running at an average of 40,000 commuters per day before the launch of the underground corridor. It has now increased fourfold, with almost 1.7 lakh to 1.8 lakh riders daily. We will see a similar trend when work in South Bengaluru is also complete.”
Kharola said that Metro will definitely present a healthy balance sheet for the financial year 2017-2018.
