IRCTC Eyeing New Business Opportunities From AI To Payment Gateways: Sanjay Jain

Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corp. reported a profitable and stable first quarter, with consolidated net profit rising 7% to Rs 330.7 crore, according to an exchange filing on Wednesday.

Revenue also saw a growth of 3.8% to Rs 1,159.68 crore, with a margin of 34.3%. CMD Sanjay Kumar Jain said that while the overall numbers were strong, the growth was driven by certain segments, with e-ticketing growing by 9% and tourism by 21%.

Jain attributed a decline in the catering business to a high base effect from the previous year. Looking ahead, he detailed a series of new initiatives to capture future growth.

"We are going to take many new initiatives like Unified Portal for travel needs and the selling point here is to offer affordable travel solution to customers and see a growth in margin," he said.

The company is also eyeing changes in its digital infrastructure. It has received permission for a payment gateway and aggregation from the Reserve Bank of India and plans to apply for an RVL Licence within the next six months.

This will allow IRCTC to extend its services beyond its internal customers to government organisations, semi-government and private organisations. Jain noted that the company has already processed transactions worth Rs 13,000 crore in GMP value last year through its internal business.

Ministry of Railways’ launch of projects, such as Amrit Bharat Stations and new trains, will create business opportunities for IRCTC.

"We want to monetise our websites using artificial intelligence also. We are going to capture these business opportunities. Our board has already approved four new plants to be set up," he added talking about technology driven diversification.