FICCI-KPMG rail freight report

A FICCI-KPMG knowledge paper argues that improving rail access for MSMEs could unlock the next phase of India's rail freight growth. It puts average rail freight cost at INR 1.96 per tonne-km against INR 3.78 for road, but says most MSMEs still rely on road because of fragmented consignments, weak cargo aggregation, poor terminal access and wagon-availability constraints. MSMEs contribute over 31% of GDP and nearly half of exports, the paper notes. It recommends freight-aggregation platforms, modernised common-user terminals and demand-led wagon planning. All figures are the report's.