Railways Turns the Tables: ₹8,913 Crore Earned by Dropping Senior Citizen Perks

In a shocking revelation, Indian Railways has made an extra ₹8,913 crore in five years by abolishing senior citizen ticket concessions, as per information received through an RTI query. The concessions, which offered 40% discounts to male and transgender passengers over 60 and 50% to female passengers over 58, were abolished in March 2020 at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Between March 2020 and February 2025, more than 31.35 crore senior citizens traveled without taking these concessions. This decision has caused controversy in Parliament, with renewed calls for reviving the concessions. But Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw defended the decision, saying that Indian Railways subsidizes passenger fares by an average of 46%, which in the fiscal year 2022-23 works out to ₹56,993 crore.

The critics believe that elderly citizens are worthy of these perks as a token of welfare in a tax-giving society. RTI activist Chandra Shekhar Gaur pointed out that while total revenue from elderly citizen passengers amounted to ₹20,133 crore during this period, the lack of concessions by itself accounted for the extra ₹8,913 crore revenue. The argument persists over whether the monetary benefit cancels out the social obligation to provide support to elderly citizens.

Source: Economic Times