KOCHI: KSRTC Swift Ltd (K-Swift), a sister concern of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation that operates long-distance buses, is having a good run, even as KSRTC continues to sputter along.
KSRTC-Swift posted a total revenue of Rs 98.07 crore in the 2023-24 financial year — an increase of 120.17% from Rs 44.54 crore a year earlier. Net profit came in at Rs 1.04 crore, up from Rs 2.60 lakh in 2022-23, a budget document released by the state finance department showed.
This comes even as KSRTC continued to incur losses. The corporation registered a net loss of Rs 1,314.04 crore in 2023-24. While it recorded a total income of 3,185.54 crore, total expenditure came in at Rs 4,488.36 crore, said the document — titled ‘A Review of Public Enterprises in Kerala 2023-24’.
However, despite being on the rocks, KSRTC improved its performance by leaps and bounds, as total income rose by 46.99% from Rs 2,167.13 crore in the previous fiscal. Consequently, the corporation’s net loss decreased by 11.85% to Rs 1,314.05 crore from Rs 1,490.67 crore a year earlier. In 2023-24, the company paid an amount of Rs 10.97 crore as contribution to the central as well as state exchequer by way of taxes and duties, the report stated.
KSRTC-Swift was incorporated on November 9, 2021, for providing necessary infrastructural, technical, managerial, operational support to the KSRTC for efficiently running its long-distance services. The company, which mainly operates super-fast services, employed 1,466 people in 2023-24.
The KSRTC had a staff strength of 28,066 workers, including 24,579 permanent employees, as on March 2024. The report assumes added importance as Transport Minister K B Ganesh Kumar is reportedly planning the merger of KSRTC with Swift.
“Both are functioning as separate entities. Since K-Swift is functioning efficiently, in my opinion, the merging of KSRTC and Swift, with the latter as the parent company, augurs well. However, the other way round will further burden management,” said Tomin J Thachankary, former KSRTC CMD.