Non-Fare Revenue Scheme: Indian Railways introduces co-branding of stations for first time

Under this policy of ‘Co-Branding of Railway Stations’, the concerned licensee (the owner of the brand) will be assigned the right of advertising to o­nly prefix or suffix its brand name or logo to the railway station name.

To tap the potential of Indian Railways as well as to maximise the revenue from Non–Fare Revenues (NFR), the Railway Ministry, for the first time, has launched the concept of ‘Co-Branding of Railway Stations’. Under this policy of ‘Co-Branding of Railway Stations’, the concerned licensee (the owner of the brand) will be assigned the right of advertising to o­nly prefix or suffix its brand name or logo to the railway station name. It also said that such brand name shall not exceed two words. According to a statement issued by Western Railways, this scheme is purely a form of advertisement and the policy does not tantamount to change in the name of the railway station.

However, according to the zonal railway, the Co-Branding shall not be allowed o­n the Public Reservation System, railway tickets, route maps, websites, in announcements through the railways Public Address Systems, o­n the Rail Display Network, amongst others, where the railway station’s name shall only be its original name. Following are some of the salient features of the Policy o­n Co-Branding of railway stations:

1) Prefix or suffix the name or logo of the brand to the name of the railway station
2) Co-Branding of the railway station will be allowed at all the places in the station building area wherever the railway station’s name is displayed as well as in the circulating area
3) The scheme of ‘Co-Branding of Railway Stations’ is open to Central government and State government institutions, Public Sector Units (PSUs), as well as reputed private firms including banks or financial entities, excluding advertising agencies.
4) The contract for Co-Branding of railway stations will be awarded through the process of open o­nline tendering (ireps.gov.in) for a period of one to three years
5) According to the national transporter, letting out of space is purely o­n a license basis