Kolkata, Apr 6 (PTI) Kolkata Metro, which is focusing on non-fare revenue to leverage its assets and increase income, Wednesday said it was aiming to double its earning from it to Rs 40 crore in 2022-23.
Kolkata Metro non-fare revenue in 2021-22 was Rs 19.44 crore, which surpassed its target of Rs 18 crore and registered a jump of 71 per cent jump over the previous fiscal.
“In the current year, we are aiming to double the non-fare income as we will continue to leverage our assets to increase our income. We have been able to increase the income by 71 per cent amid Covid-induced disruptions. Our income in FY’22 was Rs 19.44 crore ,” the deputy chief operations manager of Kolkata Metro, Kaushik Mitra told PTI.
“We are the first metro in the country to introduce corporate branding of stations. This is a major revenue stream in the non-fare revenue basket,” he said.
On Tuesday, Kolkata Metro announced branding of Belgachia station as “Theism Belgachia”.
Kolkata Metro was able to brand 10 stations beginning with Salt Lake sector V station by Bandhan Bank. Many other retail brands have joined the fray like Senco Gold and Diamonds at Karunamoyee, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) at two stations –Phoolbagan and City Centre.
“We have 33 operating stations out of which 18 stations cannot be taken up for branding as they are named after religious temples like Kalighat, Dakhineshwar and noted personalities like Rabindranath Tagore, Netaji Subhas Bose, Kavi Nazrul, Surya Sen and Mahanayak Uttam Kumar,” Mitra, the brainchild behind the station branding said.
There are 26 stations in the north-south corridor and seven in the east-west corridor.
Kolkata Metro will earn between Rs 55-85 lakh per annum from branding of stations, which have already been leased for five years. The branding will depending on footfall in the stations and the Metro authorities expect higher realisations for the new ones which go under the hammer in the days to come.
The interest from brands is very high which offers a new avenue for branding, Metro officials said.
Kolkata Metro has already introduced train, gate, fare chart, smart card branding and more such branding concepts will be introduced, Mitra said.
It has a passenger load is about six lakh a day in its 39.07 km route. PTI BSM KK KK KK
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Source: The Print
