Business Desk, ETV Bharat: After falling for five months in a row, freight traffic on Indian Railways managed to record growth in August 2020 compared with its year-ago levels.
Indian railways saw freight traffic increasing 3.9% year-on-year in August, according to independent think tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
“The fall in railways traffic due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown recovered completely in August 2020 and saw a near V-shaped recovery,” said Yash Shah, analyst at CMIE.
However, it may be too early to celebrate as the growth comes over a low base of 6.1% contraction recorded during August 2019. Also, freight traffic on railways in August 2020 was slightly lower than the July 2020 levels.
Notably, coal is the major commodity transported through the railways. After recording double-digit contraction since March 2020, overall coal freight traffic fell by just 2% in August 2020. This recovery in coal freight data hints at the revival of the country’s industrial activity and trade.
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Also, foodgrain movement over Indian Railways reached an all-time high in August, surpassing its earlier spike in April 2020, thereby leading the recovery in freight traffic.
In August, the Indian Railways carried 6.24 million tonnes of foodgrain compared with 6.17 million tonnes in April 2020. In contrast, the average monthly foodgrain transported over Indian Railways during 2019-20 was 3.1 million tonnes.
Fertilisers industry also contributed to the August recovery in freight traffic, though it was one of the least affected industries during the lockdown. In August, fertilisers’ traffic rose 29% y-o-y after recording 14.8% growth in July 2020.
Interestingly, cement and clinker traffic has been declining in the last two months after recovering to pre-lockdown levels in June itself.
“After a smart recovery to 10.5 million tonnes in June 2020, cement and clinker traffic has been declining. It fell to 8.7 million tonnes in July and then to 7.8 million tonnes in August… Having registered a recovery, the momentum seems to have tapered,” Shah noted.
