MSRTC earns ₹16.86cr profit in August, first time in nine years

After almost nine years, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) earned a profit of ₹16.86 crore and as many as 20 out of 31 segments were profitable in August, said officials.

“Due to two years of Covid-19 epidemic and the prolonged strike of the employees for six months, the MSRTC was struggling to make profits. Smooth transport service of MSRTC started in May 2022. However, shifting the reduced ridership of the corporation back to ST was a major challenge,” said Abhijit Bhosle, public relations officer, MSRTC.

“After the state government launched two schemes, free travel in all types of buses for senior citizens above 75 years of age and 50 per cent discount on ST passenger tickets for all women it led to a significant increase in the number of ST passengers. Currently, an average of 54 lakh passengers are travelling through ST every day,” he said.

Madhav Kusekar, vice-president and managing director of MSRTC, congratulated all the officers and employees and urged them to make efforts in the future as well so that the transport body remains profitable.

Earlier on June 19, 2023, HT had reported how wheels are turning for MSRTC, which had incurred heavy losses. During 2022 strike which lasted for more than six months, state transport body incurred loses more than ₹4,000 crores. However, the two schemes bailed it out as the number of daily passengers increased with MSRTC getting reimbursement from state government for every trip the beneficiary makes, said officials.

“At the same time efforts of creating awareness among drivers and conductors about cutting down on unnecessary consumption of diesel has also minimised the expense. The breakdowns of the buses have also gone down due to proper maintenance of these vehicles,” stated the release by MSRTC on Thursday.

Last year, 18 of the 31 divisions of MSRTC were running into profits with more of them being from Marathwada.