Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) has awarded naming rights for five stations of the Metro-3 corridor for a period of 5 years starting from the commissioning of the line. The total value of station naming rights is Rs. 216 crores cumulatively over 5 years with a 5 per cent annual escalation – generating non-fare revenue to the tune of Rs 40 crores annually.
The metro stations for which naming rights have been awarded are Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) & CSMT Metro Stations to Kotak Mahindra Bank, Siddhivinayak Metro Station to ICICI Lombard and Churchgate and Hutatma Chowk Metro stations to Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).
The winning brands will get branding space inside the station, mentioned in train announcements and station maps, in addition to pre-fixing of their brand name to the station name across the respective station.
“MMRC is happy to associate with reputed brands like Kotak Mahindra Bank, LIC and ICICI Lombard for station naming rights for Line 3. This is the first step towards generating non-fare box revenue, that would ease funding and keep the fares reasonable for the commuters”, said Ashwini Bhide, Managing Director, MMRC.
“The average value realized of Rs 8 cr per station annually is the highest in India and among the highest in the world, beating metro lines in Dubai, Madrid, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur which averaged up to $1 mn per station annually”, added Ms Bhide.
Bids for naming rights for rest of the stations are planned to be invited shortly before the Revenue Operation Date (ROD).