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Suresh Prabhu the Railway Minister has asked foreign funds and domestic investors to replicate with the railways, their success in the telecom, power and road sectors as the department needs a whopping Rs 1 lakh crore in funds this year and Rs 8.5 lakh crore over the next five years.

"You have successfully invested in the telecom and power and roads sector, but never in the railways. The government also didn't invest during the past two decades and so we've chalked out a five-year plan under which we are looking at an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore this financial year and Rs 8.5 lakh crore over the next five years," Mr Prabhu told.

Mr Prabhu rolled out the red carpet for foreign funds and domestic investors, including multinational i-bankers, FIIs, domestic insurers like LIC and other financial institutions for the development of Indian railways.

"We are looking at private sector investments, too, though we know it will take time," the minister said. "This means we need to invest $200 billion annually in the railways over the next five years, after which we need an annual investment of 1.5 times more than this (or $350 billion) for the next five years," Mr Prabhu said.

By Premji