The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) presented its annual budget for FY 2025-2026 to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday, November 28.
BEST General Manager Anil Diggikar presented the budget to Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani.
Here are key points to keep in mind from the budget:
1. The budget reported total liabilities of more than INR 9,286 crore. This debt comes from loans, borrowings, and recurring losses.
2. The planned budget shows profits of INR 46 crore for BEST's power division. The losses are entirely from the transport division.
3. The projected budget is around INR 9,000 crore. The final budget will be unveiled alongside the BMC's FY 2025–2026 budget next year.
4. There will be no fare hike in this budget proposal for 2025–2026.
5. BEST has asked the municipal corporation for a grant of INR 2,812 crore to make up for the shortfall and buy new vehicles.
6. The budget outlines costs for infrastructure development, equipment purchases, loan repayment, employee salaries, and daily operations.
7. For FY 2025–2026, the organisation projects an annual loss of INR 2,200 crore despite reporting a surplus of INR 1 lakh.
It should be noted that two years ago, the liabilities stood at INR 6,400 crore. Currently, the organisation faces challenges like outdated infrastructure, rising expenses, and competition.
Earlier this year, BEST requested INR 3,400 crore from the BMC to maintain a fleet of 3,337 buses. However, the BMC decided to cap annual funding at INR 800 crore since it had previously granted INR 1,600 crore to BEST. That funding covered expenses such as traffic systems, employee bonuses, electricity repayments, and gratuities.
Furthermore, the funding for BEST's INR 2,573-crore project for electric bus purchases is planned in the following way:
- The World Bank will provide 70% of the funding.
- The Maharashtra government covers 25%.
- BMC has been asked to cover 5%.
This 5% or INR 128 crore, earmarked for viability gap funding for electric buses, is still unpaid by the BMC.
Despite plans to expand its fleet to 10,662 buses by 2026–2027, the organisation has faced delays in bus deliveries. An order for 2,400 AC e-buses, 200 double-decker AC e-buses, and 2,100 additional buses is incomplete. The fleet has already reduced by over 500 buses in the last year due to the withdrawal of wet-lease operators.
BEST is an important service provider in Mumbai, but it has long been struggling to maintain its operations.
- Its transport division serves about 3 million daily passengers with a reduced fleet of 2,800 buses.
- Its power supply division has a customer base of 1.05 million.
On Thursday, November 28, BEST also credited Diwali bonuses ranging from INR 27,000 to INR 29,000 for each of its 27,000 employees. This brought relief to drivers, conductors, and other workers who had started protests over delays in receiving their bonuses.
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