State-owned RailTel has been adjudged as the best among all public sector undertakings (PSU) in India in financial reporting, by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
The company, which is one of the largest neutral telecom infrastructure providers in India, has won the ICAI Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the year 2020-21 in the Public Sector Entities Category. RailTel has been adjudged as winner in the 'plaque' category as part of the awards, which have been given annually since 1958.
Financial reporting refers to the preparation and presentation of financial information. The government has focussed on fostering effective financial reporting by all government entities and PSUs, in order to raise the effectiveness of various investment and regulatory decisions.
The award has been instituted with a view to promote better standards in the preparation and presentation of information in the financial statements.
RailTel is a Miniratna PSU under the Rail Ministry. It owns a pan-India optic fiber network covering several towns and cities and rural areas. It currently owns a nationwide optic fiber network, on exclusive 'Right of Way' along railway tracks. The network covers important towns & cities of the country and several rural areas.
Along with a strong a reliable network of more than 60,000 RKM of Optic fibre, RailTel has two tier III data centers as well. In an effort to push the Digital India program, and focus on efficient digital delivery in rural and semi-urban areas, RailTel recently announced plans to set up “Edge Data Centres” (EDCs) jointly with other partners.
The PSU is seeking partners to establish the Edge Data Centres in the Railway premises and land across 102 locations, especially Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns.
Fast growth
RailTel continues to be a profitable company since FY2007. However, the PSU's income has accelerated in recent years. Case in point, despite the Covid pandemic, RailTel managed to make rapid growth in 2020-21. As a result, the PSU recorded its highest ever consolidated income in FY 20-21 of Rs.1411 Crore.
This constituted a growth of 21 percent and a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 16.6 percent over the past 3 years. The company declared an Interim Dividend at the rate of 17.5 percent of paid-up share capital (Rs. 1.75 /- per share) for FY22.
Not only has the revenue increased, the order book of RailTel has also seen a quantum jump despite weak market conditions. RailTel currently has a healthy order book of around Rs 5,300 crore.
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