Railtel Corporation Of India (RAILTEL) Q4 00/01 earnings summary

Executive summary

• First financial period, 26 Sep 2000–31 Mar 2001; operations had not commenced, with income generated from bank-deposit interest.

• Strategy: build a national telecom network using railway routes and right-of-way, supporting voice, data and railway communications.

Financial highlights

• Interest income and profit before tax were each Rs 27.285 lakh; profit after tax was Rs 16.099 lakh after Rs 11.186 lakh income-tax provision.

• Balance sheet: total funds Rs 15.161 crore; fixed assets Rs 4.22 lakh; net current assets Rs 13.061 crore; miscellaneous and pre-operative expenditure Rs 2.058 crore.

• Interest income included Rs 6.00 lakh tax deducted at source on a Rs 12.95 crore fixed deposit; the tax return for AY 2001–02 remained to be filed.

Outlook and guidance

• Commercial activity was expected to begin during FY 2001–02; Phase I optical-fibre work aimed to connect eight major cities by around mid-2002.

• Four-phase plan targeted 33,000 km of network; Phase I included 1,605 km of new OFC to fill gaps and link four metros and four major cities by June 2002.

• Planned capacity included STM-1 bandwidth for stations without existing service and STM-16 or higher for long-distance routes.