'First 15 Minutes Reserved For...': IRCTC New Rule On Online Ticket Booking From October

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp. has a new provision for those trying to book tickets via the website or the app, wherein the first 15 minutes after the general reservations window opens are reserved only for Aadhaar-linked users.

The new rule will be implemented from Oct. 1, as per NDTV. For those, however, who want to book tickets from railway counters, no change has been introduced. Tickets will be booked at PRS counters as before.

As far as agents are concerned, they will not be able to book tickets for the first 10 minutes when reservation opens. These technical changes will be made in CRIS and IRCTC systems, according to NDTV.

IRCTC has also been mulling changes in its digital infrastructure after It received permission for a payment gateway and aggregation from the Reserve Bank of India.

"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," CMD Sanjay Kumar Jain stated while talking about technology driven diversification.

On Aug 5, the RBI gave an in-principle approval to IRCTC Payments Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp., to operate as an online payment aggregator.

The decision, via a letter dated Aug. 4, came under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, according to an exchange filing.

The move aimed to help Indian Railways' ticketing and hospitality arm in tapping into railway and government-linked transactions and will cash in additional revenue for the public sector undertaking by mediating between merchants and customers through facilitating payments.

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.

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%.