Indian Railways will appoint a consultant to study the overall impact of the goods and services tax (GST) – both as a procurer and as a service provider.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said he had already started talks with top experts personally. “But institutionally, I have asked Railways to consider a consultant to study GST. Not only us, we need to have a strategy in place for this,” Prabhu told BusinessLine.

“In data monetisation, the first step will be data analysis. Data is like a dumpyard. You have all kinds of municipal solid waste, which you first dump. Then, we segregate it. What we are going to do in Railways has not happened anywhere in the world. We have to set our own example first. So, the first step to that is data analytics.” It is early to say, whether the Railways will be using another agency or partner with somebody for data analytics.

“We will not compromise on privacy. It is your data pertaining to credit card. But the same time, there are possibilities. It is a new business model that we have to develop. Therefore, we have to work on it,” Prabhu said.

Regulator soon

The Minister said that the Railways would have a regulator at the earliest. “We are keen to have a regulator as soon as possible. We have sent a proposal to the department of personnel and training. As soon as it approves and the Cabinet approves,” he added.

This may be the first year of merger of Railway Budget with the main budget, but the Railway Minister maintained that nothing has changed as far as he is concerned. “Nothing has changed except that I don't present the budget in Parliament,” he said.

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