← Critical Product/Equipment/Process: Industrials, Auto & Infrastructure (all topics)
Land licence fee (LLF)
What it is
The charge container train operators and logistics firms pay Indian Railways for land at terminals and sidings, typically as a percentage of land value revised periodically
It is a fixed cost independent of throughput
Impact on industries
- A fixed charge against variable volumes, so it compresses margin hardest when throughput falls
- Revisions are administrative and have risen sharply in some cycles, with no corresponding improvement in service
- Long-tenure land access at railway-connected sites is genuinely valuable, since such locations cannot be replicated
- It is one of several administered charges - alongside haulage - that make Indian Railways both landlord and competitor to private operators