Director Finance (CFO) of Container Corporation of India ltd, P Alli Rani, in conversation with the Pioneer team, elaborates on the contributions as well as competitions the organisation is facing with other firms.
What is the future hold for ConcorIJ
Concor has a very important role to play in all the initiatives being taken by the Government for economic progress under 'Make in India' campaign such as increase in exports or improvement in general infrastructure for domestic change. Demand for rail connected warehousing would increase where it will be playing a vital role or it will be providing this infrastructure to the train and manufacturing services.
What is the contribution of Concor to Indian Railways’ revenueIJ
Currently, it is more than Rs2 lakh crore and the contribution of the container sector is currently around 75 per cent. The contribution of the rail container sector indirectly also is a part of railways, because it provides tracks as well as locomotives. So, the railways are paid whatever they provide us.
Our total revenue would contribute around 5 per cent of the rail revenues in the container sector, but when the Railway infrastructures enhance through the dedicated freight corridor, this contribution can go up to about 20-25 per cent. In future, would container traffic railway lines ever get priority over passenger rail traffic, given that container traffic transports vital goods and infrastructure material across IndiaIJ
At present, the plan which is being implemented is to have dedicated goods traffic lines. It will give a boost to the container traffic. When there are no passenger trains on the line, then definitely goods traffic will get priority, but it is not exclusively for containers. Around 60 per cent of the trains on these dedicated corridors will be container trains. No goods trains are only container trains.
How has Vallarpadam container terminal fared since its opening two years ago in Kerala. Where are the future container terminals coming up in IndiaIJ
Vallarpadam container terminal is a part of Concor. Number of ships calling at this terminal has like more than doubled over this period. The business volume is expected to increase further for which the Government has issued some relaxation. It was the constraint for Vallarpadam only. The future container terminals are mostly coming from Western Coast and from Eastern Coasts as well.
What is the impact of rising diesel fuel costs on Concor’s profitability and how future volatility in diesel prices will be taken into accountIJ
We don’t have diesel costs as a major cause, because we pay to the Indian Railways which takes care of it for its locomotives. We have to pull up for more competition if diesel costs escalate further, but as per the latest report the cost of diesel is stabilised which is a good news for Concor.
Tell us about the interest of big Indian corporate houses in the logistics and freight industry. Will it pose any challenge to ConcorIJ
Concor itself in the container segment faces competition from 16 big corporate houses including Reliance, Adani and also international companies like DP World et al. There are currently big entries into the warehousing sector also. So, Concor has to face challenges from these firms in near future.