Pink Book 2025-26: Indian Railways Budget & Key Allocations

Pink Book generally refers to an annual statement published by the Indian Ministry of Railways. It details the Indian Railways' allocation, expenditure, and investment plans in minute levels of detail. It is a tool through which a review on the financial plan and physical targets set up by the Indian Railways can be monitored. It provides transparency and accountability regarding budget allocation and usage. 

The Pink Book for 2025-26 is expected to be released in February 2025. It will be a major document for understanding the Indian Railways' plans for the upcoming fiscal year.

In the context of the UPSC Civil Services Examination, knowledge of the Pink Book is relevant to General Studies Paper III. It covers subjects such as Economic Development, Industry, and Infrastructure, including transport systems like railways.

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What is Pink Book in the Context of Union Budget?

The Pink Book, officially known as "Works, Machinery & Rolling Stock Programme of Railways," is a comprehensive publication that includes all the proposed works and projects, physical targets, and expected outcomes for the fiscal year for Indian Railways. Every budget cycle includes an updated Pink Book coinciding with the Union Budget, thereby providing an exhaustive listing of all financial parameters including route kilometers to be constructed or electrified, new lines to be built, stations to be modernized, and rolling stock to be procured.

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Why the Name Pink Book?

The term 'Pink Book' has become an integral part of the railway budget nomenclature due to the traditional pink-colored cover of the document. This color coding has helped in easy identification and differentiation of this specific document within the vast array of budget and financial papers managed by the Indian Railways and other departments of the government.

Key Components of the Pink Book

The Pink Book involves several key constituents essential for the proper functioning and growth of the Indian Railways. These consist of:

• Project Lists: Long lists of newly sanctioned projects, expansions, and upgrades during the financial year.
• Financial Allocations: Detailed budgetary figures allocated towards each project and scheme.
• Physical Targets: Notified physical targets in terms of track renewals, electrification achievements, and new route kilometres to be covered.
• Milestones and Timelines: Individual timelines for all projects along with the corresponding milestones and deadlines.
• Regional Allocation: Zone-wise disbursement of funds and resources ensuring balanced regional growth.

Features of the Pink Book

Pink Book is distinguished by the clear and granular categorization that it uses. Some of its key features include:

• Granularity: It uses granular detail, even when dealing with very small projects to ensure full transparency and accountability.
• Zonal Distribution: Detailed distribution of grants across various zones of railways prevents unequal distribution, and hence is a holistic means of developing the Indian Railways.
• Project Classification: Ongoing, future and completed projects. This helps better track and judge the projects by the government for further improvement
• Financial Transparency: The Pink book ensures financial clarity and prevents further misuse of finances by making such allocations and expenditures go public.

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Challenges Associated with the Pink Book for Indian Railways

Despite the many advantages, there are challenges in the Pink Book:

• Project Delays: There are several projects listed in the Pink Book, which face delays because of problems related to land acquisition, fund availability, and bureaucratic red tape.
• Resource Limitation: A critical constraint has been adequate funding for the implementation and completion of projects.
• Maintenance vs. Expansion: The most difficult task is to balance the expenditure between the maintenance of the existing infrastructure and the new projects.
• Coordination Issues: Proper coordination among several stakeholders such as state governments and local bodies becomes difficult.

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Why did the Government Stop Releasing a Separate Budget for Railways?

India had a separate railway budget independent of the general budget since 1924, which reflected the enormous scale of Railway operations. However, there were several reasons why the Railway Budget was merged with the Union Budget in 2017:

• Integration: To simplify the budgetary process and reduce the procedural complexity.
• Resource Optimization: So that resources can be better optimized in terms of their usage since a significant part of the resources was often used for system-specific allocations.
• Debt Management: Budget integration has helped in improving the management of Indian Railways' debt obligation.
• Unified Planning: It also allowed for better financial and infrastructural planning along the lines of the overall economic policies of the government.

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Other Government Sectors in India that Release a Separate Budget

The Railway Budget has been merged with the Union Budget, some sectors and parts still put out separate fiscal statements:

• Defence Services: The Ministry of Defence puts in place specific expenditure for the Army, Navy and Air Force besides procurement and in-hand projects.
• Ministry of Health: Though the general budget includes it, many health schemes and expenditure documents are separately detailed.

Read the article on Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act!

Download the Key Takeaways of Pink Book 2025-26 PDF!

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