L&T Seeks CM Revanth's Nod for Metro Fare Hike
Officials from L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Ltd (L&TMRHL) are likely to meet Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to seek approval for a hike in Metro Rail fares. The meeting, initially scheduled for Thursday, was cancelled reportedly as the government had not reviewed the proposal.
Hyderabad: Officials from L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Ltd (L&TMRHL) are likely to meet Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to seek approval for a hike in Metro Rail fares. The meeting, initially scheduled for Thursday, was cancelled reportedly as the government had not reviewed the proposal.
The company is pushing for a fare revision starting May 10, proposing to raise the minimum fare from ₹10 to ₹15 and the maximum fare from ₹60 to ₹75. According to official sources, L&T chairman S.N. Subrahmanyan has personally sought an appointment with the Chief Minister to press for the fare revision. The meeting is now expected to be held within the next two to three days.
L&TMRHL, which operates Hyderabad Metro under a public-private partnership (PPP) model, submitted a report to the state government in April last week highlighting its financial distress. The company reported a loss of ₹625 crore in 2024-25 and stated that cumulative losses since the launch of Metro Rail services in November 2017 had reached ₹6,598.21 crore.
The report said that ₹4,828.55 crore losses were incurred during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, owing to prolonged lockdowns and a significant drop in ridership. While asset monetisation efforts in the last two years had helped reduce the financial strain, the high-interest loans used to fund the metro construction continued to weigh heavily on the project's balance sheet, it informed the government.
The report stated that revenues from ticketing and advertisements had touched ₹1,400 crore, insufficient to offset the debt burden. It also pointed to the recent 50 per cent fare hike implemented by Bengaluru Metro, which also operates under a PPP model. If approved, the fare hike could generate an estimated additional revenue of ₹150 crore annually to L&T.