Raj National Express, a subsidiary of Shree Raj Travels and Tours, has confirmed plans of it crossing the Indian border to enter Nepal and Bhutan by end 2006.

Lalit Sheth, CMD of Raj Travels, said, "Plans are on to commence services from Rakhsol into Nepal and from Siliguri into Bhutan. We do not require any permission to start services into these countries as the bi-laterals are already in place to operate bus services in these two countries."
The company is consequently in the process of acquiring a fleet of as many as 1,500 Volvo coaches. It also has plans of roping in 250 Mercedes Benz coaches and an equal number of Tata Globus coaches. The cost of one Volvo and Benz coach on the road touches an estimated Rs 92 to Rs 95 lakh each, while the cost of a Tata Globus coach is about Rs 45 lakh. It had recently added 10 coaches to its fleet with another 20 coming in by August this year taking the total strength to 71 coaches.

Speaking about the funding of the current projects, Sheth mentioned, "State Bank of India (SBI) has been the main funding agency especially for Raj National Express." Confirming this is Shashi Kumar, deputy general manager at SBI, who said, "We have been associated with the company for few years now and have funded all its vehicles." Raj National Express has approximately 780 agents, including both IATA as well as non-IATA.