Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) was incorporated as a Public Limited Company on September 27, 1999 as an extension of the Indian Railways for the purpose of upgradation, management, and professionalization of the catering and hospitality services provided at stations, trains, and other venues. The Company received Certificate for Commencement of Business on December 2, 1999.
IRCTC is a 'Mini Ratna (Category-I)' Central Public Sector Enterprise that falls under the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India. to promote domestic and international tourism through the creation of low-cost accommodations, unique tour packages, informational and promotional campaigns, and international reservation systems. IRCTC offers ticketing, catering, and tourism services for the Indian Railways. The Indian Railways has authorised IRCTC as the only entity to sell train tickets online, offer food and catering services, and supply bottled drinking water to Indian railway stations and trains. Under the administrative supervision of the Ministry of Railways, it was initially entirely owned by the Government of India. However, as of 2019, it got listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE), with the Government still holding the majority of the shares.
The Company operates via four key divisions: travel and tourism, packaged drinking water (Rail Neer), internet ticketing, and catering and hospitality. These divisions provide a wide range of goods and service. It diversified into other businesses, including non-railway catering and services such as e-catering, executive lounges and budget hotels, which are in line with its objective to build a 'one stop solution' for its customers.
Internet Ticketing: The Company is the only entity authorized by Indian Railways to offer railway tickets online through its website and mobile application. As of August 31, 2019, more than 1.40 million passengers travelled on Indian Railways on a daily basis, which consisted of approximately 72.60% of Indian Railways' tickets booked online. As a result, there are more than 0.84 million tickets booked through www.irctc.co.in and 'Rail Connect' on a daily basis. The Company currently operates one of the most transacted websites in the Asia-Pacific region with a transaction volume of more than 25 million per month and 7.2 million logins per day. The booking of railway tickets through the internet is now available 24 hours per day, 365 day per year, with the only exception being daily maintenance closure from 23:45 hours to 00:20 hours. The main objective behind the introduction of the internet ticketing was that instead of requiring passengers to be physically present at the Passenger Reservation System ('PRS'), the PRS should be brought to the door steps of passengers.
Catering: The Company provides food catering services to Indian Railway passengers on trains and at stations. On-board catering services are referred to as mobile catering and catering services at stations are referred to as static catering. Pursuant to the catering policy issued by Ministry of Railways dated February 27, 2017, ('Catering Policy 2017'), it provides catering services for approximately 350 pre-paid and post-paid trains and 530 static units. It provides catering services through mobile catering units, base kitchens, cell kitchens, refreshment rooms, food plazas, food courts, train side vending, and Jan Ahaars over the Indian Railways network. All other catering units, such as refreshments rooms at stations categorized at B or below, AVMs, milk stalls, and trolleys are managed by zonal railways. The Company also offers e-catering services to passengers through its mobile application 'Food on Track' and its e catering website, www.ecatering.irctc.co.in.
The Company also operates executive lounges, budget hotels, and retiring rooms for the convenience of the travelling passengers on Indian Railways.
Packaged Drinking Water (Rail Neer): The Company is the only entity authorized by the Ministry of Railways to manufacture and distribute packaged drinking water at all railway stations and on trains, according to CRISIL. The Company manufactures and distributes packaged drinking water under brand 'Rail Neer'. Currently, it operates ten Rail Neer plants located at Nangloi, Danapur, Palur, Ambernath, Amethi, Parassala, Bilaspur, Hapur, Ahmedabad and Bhopal, with an installed production capacity of approximately 1.09 million litres per day, which caters to approximately 45% of the current demand of packaged drinking water at railway premises and in trains. To increase its presence in the packaged drinking water market at railway stations, and to meet the growing demand, the company is commissioning new Rail Neer plants at Sankrail, Jagi Road, Nagpur, Bhusawal, Jabalpur, and Una. Further four new Rail Neer plants have been approved by the Company's Board of Directors and will be commissioned by 2021. The Company has also installed water vending machines ('WVMs') at railway stations to provide purified, chilled and portable drinking water to railway passengers at an affordable price.
Travel and Tourism: The Company has been mandated by Indian Railways to provide tourism and travel related services. The Company has footprints in across all major tourism segments such as hotel bookings, rail, land, cruise and air tour packages and air ticket bookings, and it is known as one of India's leading travel and tourism companies catering to the needs of diverse tourist segments. With the strength of being a CPSE under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways, it specializes in rail tourism.
The Company has an established track record of delivering strong annual returns to shareholders and its return on equity has exceeded 23% for each fiscal year since Fiscal 2017. It has been a profitable and debt free company since incorporation.
The Company has received several awards and recognitions including Satte Awards in the category of 'Excellence in Domestic Tour Operations' in 2017, Dun & Bradstreet's PSU Awards in 2017, India Power Brand 2016 Award, Indian e-Retail Awards 2015, Best Use of Mobile App 2015, Most Trusted Brand in Railways Service Provider India Pride Awards 2014-15, World Travel Awards 2015, Website of the Year India Award 2015. Its packaged drinking water, Rail Neer, was ranked as a top performer by 'Consumer Voice' Magazine in 2017. The Company has been honoured in the Fortune India Next 500 list for the year 2016 - 2017.
The company's only Joint Venture with Cox & Kings Limited, with 50:50 equity in the name of Royale Indian Rail Tours Limited (RIRTL), was incorporated on 27th November, 2008. Accordingly, a luxury train having 23 coaches was manufactured, fabricated and funded by the company and was marketed in the name of Maharajas' Express and leased to the Royale Indian Rail Tours Limited (RIRTL) for running, operating and managing the luxury tourist train. However, due to certain issues between the equity partners, the lease of the luxury train was withdrawn and the JV Agreement dated 10th December, 2008 and terminated on 12th August 2011. The Hon'ble Supreme Court permitted IRCTC to operate the said luxury train. Cox & Kings Limited initiated arbitration proceedings seeking restoration of Joint Venture Agreement. IRCTC filed a petition against Royale Indian Rail Tours Limited (RIRTL) and Cox & Kings Limited and Others before National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), where the said Company (RIRTL) was declared to be in managerial dispute.
During the FY 2019-20, as per the decision of Government of India to disinvest the shareholding by 12.6% of paid up share capital of the Company, the initial public offer was held on 30th September, 2019 and the shares of the Company were listed on NSE and BSE on 14th October, 2019. IRCTC introduced two Tejas Trains on the Lucknow-New Delhi' and Ahmedabad-Mumbai' routes, While 1 passenger train was launched on the Varanasi-Indore' route. It launched international cruise packages. It operated River Cruise packages to Gangasagar, Sunderban and on the Godavari River. It introduced packages for heritage routes of Patalpani-Kalakund. It launched Pilgrim Special Trains for tourists. It organised first Adventure tourism package to North East India. Two new Rail Neer Plants were set up at Sankrail and Maneri. Five new Rail Neer Plants were set up at Sanand, Hapur, Nagpur, Mandideep and Jagi Road during FY 2019-20.
In FY 2020- 21, total 21 Bharat Darshan Trains & 04 Pilgrimage Special Tourist Train operated with 13,312 passengers & 2,426 passengers
respectively. It launched 5 trips of Deluxe Tourist Train in the 2nd Half of FY 2020- 21. Out of them, IRCTC was able to operate 01 trip of Deluxe tourist train covering Jaisalmer and Jodhpur. During FY2021, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), Ministry of Finance, announced Offer for Sale (OFS) of shares by Promoters for disinvestment of 16,00,000 equity shares of Rs 10/- each, which was further diluted. As on 31st March, 2021, IRCTC provided Onboard Catering Services in 490 Special Trains, out of which catering services in 243 trains were provided through the pantry cars. It operated two trips of Golden Chariot with 55 guests on-board. It launched five trips of the Deluxe Tourist Train in the 2nd Half of FY2020-21. Out of them, IRCTC was able to operate 1 trip of Deluxe Tourist Train in the name of Padharo Rajasthan' covering Jaisalmer and Jodhpur with 84 passengers on board. It launched and operated 1 Adventure Tour- TrichyTawang, which covered Guwahati- Dirang- TawangSangthi Valley- Guwahati with six passengers.
In FY 2022, IRCTC touched another milestone of achieving a record booking of 15.88 lakh tickets on 21st March, 2022. It launched e-ticket booking through AskDisha Chatbot and IRCTC BOB Loyalty Cobranded Credit Card on RuPay platform in collaboration with Bank of Baroda. It signed an agreement with leading cruise liners by giving them advantage of sailing to some of the best Indian and international destinations. It launched and operated a number of Land Tour Packages, Domestic Air Packages, Bharat Darshan, Pilgrimage Special Tourist Train, State Special Trains, customized travel packages, Deluxe tourist train and IRCTC Corporate Trains during FY 2022. With full resumption of passenger train services, it started the operation of Rail Tour packages and accordingly the process of getting earmarked berths in the requested trains. It operated 'Ramayana Yatra' with AC Deluxe tourist train covering all major destinations of Lord Rama like Ayodhya- Sitamarhi- JanakpurVaranasi- Prayagraj- Chitrakoot- NasikHampi- Rameshwaram- KachipuramBhadrachalam. With respect to Catering segment, operations of regular Rajdhanis, Tejas, Gatiman, Vande Bharat, Shatabdis, Duronto, and Mail/ Express trains were under suspension during the year 2020- 21 and only special trains were operated by Railways to facilitate movement of passengers. As on 31st March, 2022, IRCTC provided Onboard Catering Services in 391 Trains and managed 180 refreshment rooms, 55 Jan Ahaars, 06 Cell Kitchens and 306 Food Plaza/Fast Food units. E-Catering started picking up orders and average meals booked through e-Catering in March, 2022 were 24,813 per day. It commissioned the 15th Railneer plant at Una in Himachal Pradesh and commenced commercial operations during FY 2022. It operated two Rail Yatri Niwas at New Delhi and Howrah and two BNR Hotels at Puri and Ranchi. It operated 3 charter trips with 208 domestic tourists on-board. It marketed and promoted the deluxe train tours for the domestic tourists. It operated 16 State Special Trains for Delhi Government and carried 15,757 tourists to various pilgrim places.
During FY 2022-23, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), Ministry of Finance, disinvested upto 5% of Paid-Up Equity Capital in the Company through Offer for Sale (OFS) of shares by Promoters through stock exchanges. Through aforesaid transactions, the Ministry of Railways, being the Promoter, disinvested 4,00,00,000 equity shares, diluting 5% of its stake in the Company. The proceeds of OFS amounting to Rs. 2,726.87/- Crores were deposited with DIPAM, the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. As a result of the aforesaid Offer for Sale, the President of India's holding in IRCTC was reduced to 62.40% against 67.40% of the Paid up Equity Share Capital of the Company. Subsequent to the OFS, President of India (PoI) holds 49,91,72,170 Equity shares in the Company with Face Value of Rs. 2 each.
In FY 2022-23, IRCTC launched Deluxe Tourist Trains; it operated 04 trips with 789 passengers onboard; operated 95 outbound packages and provided services to 3,195 tourists. As of Nov'22, facilities producing roughly 103 MW of wind power and 143 MW of solar power (from both land and rooftop sources) were commissioned.
Rail Neer Plant was commissioned at Bhusawal during FY 2022-23. E- ticketing service system was commissioned for Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) for booking Reserved Rail tickets for ITBP personnel w.e.f 09 Feb 2023.
As on 31st March, 2023, IRCTC has 16 operational plants located at Nangloi, Danapur, Palur, Ambernath, Amethi, Parassala, Bilaspur, Sanand, Hapur, Mandideep, Nagpur, Jagiroad, Maneri, Sankrail, Una and Bhusawal out of which plants at Amethi, Parassala, Sanand, Hapur, Mandideep, Nagpur, Jagiroad, Maneri, Sankrail, Una, Bilaspur and Bhusawal are operated.
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