Hyderabad: With Congress’s Mahalakshmi scheme emerging as a hit among women travelers, L&T president, director & CFO R Shankar Raman has hinted at pulling out of Hyderabad Metro post 2026 if the scheme continues.
In an interview with Business Today, Raman said that women travellers prefer the new free bus ride scheme while men are moving to the railway wagons. “There is a gender distribution that is happening in the transportation system. While the women are occupying the buses, the men from the buses are moving to the railway wagons,” he said.
“Although women passengers have increased in RTC buses, the total number of these buses has not increased. It is being used by women who pay nothing and Metro is used by men who pay Rs 35 on an average per ticket,” Raman was quoted by Business Today.
The Hyderabad Metro currently cater to around 4 lakh 80 thousand people per day.
Raman further said that though the Congress government’s initiative is good, a city as big as Hyderabad cannot rely on pollution-producing vehicles. Terming the move as unsustainable, Raman said that decisions made on political promises cannot help state finances. “The state finances can go bankrupt. There is no fun in doing that,” he said.
L&T reported a 10.2% jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 4,396.12 crore in the March quarter on the back of higher income. Raman said that the board is also considering making money from real estate which are connected to the Metro project.
“My own assessment is that when we sit down for FY26-FY31 plan, this could be an asset to be monetised in that period because it would then be of interest to investors particularly the Pension Funds and Global Funds given the 65-year concession,” Raman said.
