IRCTC sold Rs 28,475 crore train tickets, e-ticket sales up 14%

MUMBAI: Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corp (IRCTC) sold Rs 28,475 crore of train tickets online in the year ended March 2018, growing 14% on-year, but its overall income dipped due to withdrawal of service fee charges.

The government-owned portal posted a 3.1% decline in revenue to Rs 1,544 crore while its net profit rose 3.4% to Rs 222 crore.

Historically, revenue came from service charge on tickets, sales of Rail Neer packaged water, onboard catering services, and licence fees from outsourced catering vendors.

But the service charge earlier levied by IRCTC at Rs 20 per eticket for non-AC classes and Rs 40 per e-ticket for AC classes were withdrawn by the ministry of railways after November 2016 to promote digital payment post demonetisation.

“Withdrawal of service charge has resulted in a loss of Rs 693 crore in IRCTC’s 2017-18 turnover. Annual expenditure of Rs 80 crore incurred on website ticketing system, marketing, operation and after-sales service is being compensated by the ministry,” it said in a filing with the Registrar of Companies.

An email sent to IRCTC for comments went unanswered till press time Friday.

A year ago, it had lost revenues of Rs 575 crore due to the same reason, which means it had to forego nearly Rs 1,268 crore in ticketing revenue since November 2016, revealed data.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC)