India’s metro system might have to look at a sound financing model to stem losses

India has built a metro rail network in 20 cities, stretching 774 km, but we are still grappling with a fundamental question: how to make this capital-intensive, mass rapid transit system financially viable? This has assumed increased significance with Covid-19. For, economic pundits had argued all along that the viability of a metro rail project would depend on the robust income it could garner from non-ticketing sources.