Freight corridors contribute Rs 16,000 crore to India’s GDP

India’s existing Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) will contribute Rs 16,000 crore to the country’s gross domestic product, a study by Australia-based University of New South Wales has found. Sharing findings of this study, a Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) statement said reduction in freight cost and travel time due to operationalisation of the Western DFC (WDFC) has helped reduce commodity prices by up to 0.5%.

In addition to this, the study also found that DFC contributed to 2.94% of the revenue growth realised by Indian Railways between by FY 2022–23 and FY 2018–19. Over 10% of freight running on the Indian Railways is now handled by DFC.

This study concluded that introduction of the DFC contributed to overall national economic benefits, with greatest benefits being realized in western regions closest to the DFC due to significant reductions in freight costs.

“Regions further away also experienced economic advantages from the decreased transportation costs,” the DFCCIL statement said while adding that findings indicated a “Social-Equalizing Effect,” with states that have a lower per-capita GDP experiencing significant benefits.

The 2,843-kilometre (km) long DFC project passes through 56 districts in seven states and is 96.4% complete as of October-2024. Of this, the 1337 km long Eastern DFC (EDFC) runs from Ludhiana to Sonnagar and the 1506 km long WDFC connects Dadri with Mumbai.

According to DFCCIL, the EDFC is 100% complete and operational with feeder routes to different coal mines and thermal power plants. WDFC is 93.2% complete with feeder routes serving various cement plants and the large ports of Mundra, Kandla, Pipavav, and Hazira in Gujarat.An average 325 trains are currently running per day on the freight corridors which is 60% more than last year.