Tag: IRCTC

Odisha train accident: Nominees can claim up to Rs 10 lakh with IRCTC’s 35 paise insurance

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Odisha triple train accident on June 2 has left at least 275 people dead and over 1,175 injured. This deadly accident on Friday has brought to the forefront the importance of travel insurance. Notably, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) offers the option to avail travel insurance for 35 paise when booking on its mobile or app.

Under this facility, IRCTC provides a cover of up to Rs 10 lakh in case of death, permanent total disability, or hospitalisation due to an accident during the journey.

Eligibility

The scheme is applicable only for Indian citizens who book their e-ticket through IRCTC’s website or app. Citizens of foreign countries are not eligible for this scheme.

This coverage is optional, however if the option is exercised it will be compulsory for all passengers booked under one PNR number. This is provided only for CNF/RAC/Part CNF ticket at the time of booking.

After booking tickets, customer will receive the policy information through SMS and on their registered email IDs directly from insurance companies along with the link for filling nomination details. The policy number can be viewed from ticket booked history at IRCTC page.

The optional travel insurance is not provided for the children below 5
years of age who book the ticket without berth/seat.

IRCTC has chosen Liberty General Insurance Ltd and SBI General Insurance Co. Ltd for providing insurance coverage to the passengers.

Sum Insured

The sum assured to be given to victim/family or legal heir of the victim in case of an accident are as follows:-

(i) In case of Death- Rs 10 lakh

(ii) Permanent Total Disability – Rs 10 lakh

(iii) Permanent Partial Disability up to- Rs 7.5 lakh

(iv) Hospitalisation Expenses for Injury – Rs 2 lakh

(v) Transportation of mortal remains – Rs 10,000

Policy details

These insurance policies are contractual obligations between the insurance company/ies and the passenger. In case passenger opts for insurance, the claim/liability shall be between passenger and the insurance company. This means insurance company is responsible for policy issuance and claim settlement.

All the correspondence by policy holder should be made directly with the insurance company on their toll free number, official e mail IDs or offices as mentioned in policy document. No correspondence is to be made with IRCTC in this regard, according to Indian Railways website.

How to file claim?

Passengers or the nominees can claim insurance within 4 months of train accident. They can do this by contacting the insurance companies. In case nomination details are not filled then the settlement will be made with legal heirs, if the claim arises.

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IRCTC Q4 net profit jumps 30% to Rs 279 crore, declares dividend of Rs 2

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on Monday (May 29) reported a 30.4 percent year-on-year (YoY) jump in net profit at Rs 278.8 crore for the fourth quarter that ended March 31, 2023.

In the corresponding quarter last year, the company posted a net profit of Rs 214 crore.

In the March quarter, total revenue stood at Rs 965 crore during the period under review, up 39.7 percent against Rs 691 crore in the corresponding period of the preceding fiscal.

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At the operating level, EBITDA jumped 16.5 percent to Rs 324.6 crore in the fourth quarter of this fiscal over Rs 278.5 crore in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal.

EBITDA margin stood at 33.6 percent in the reporting quarter as compared to 40.3 percent in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal. EBITDA is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation.

The board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 2 per equity share of face value of Rs 2 each for the financial year 2022-23 (@100 percent of the paid-up share capital of Rs 160 crore).

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The results came after the close of the market hours. Shares of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd ended at Rs 645.60, up by Rs 21.25, or 3.40 percent on the BSE.

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Bharat Gaurav train to famous Sikh shrines starts today: Check IRCTC tour package details

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will start the Guru Kripa Yatra train to famous Sikh shrines covering five sacred sites from Wednesday.

A total of 678 pilgrims can travel on this train comprising nine sleeper coaches, one AC-3 tier coach and one AC-2 tier coach. This special pilgrimage named Guru Kirpa Yatra with exclusive Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train coincides with the Baisakhi festival, which is an important occasion for Sikhs.

Here are the key details you need to know about Guru Kirpa Yatra Train:

The train will embark on its 11 Days and 10 Nights journey from Lucknow on April 5. The pilgrims can board or deboard at Sitapur, Pilibhit and Bareilly.

The train comprising 9 sleeper coaches, one AC-3 tier coach and one AC-2 tier coach will end its journey on April 15.

The tour package will start from Rs 19,999 per person for double or triple occupancy and IRCTC offers three different packages- Standard, Superior and Comfort.

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Under the Superior package, the passengers can travel in Third AC coaches and it will cost Rs 29,999 per person on double or triple sharing basis. The passengers opting for Comfort package will travel in Second AC coaches and it will cost Rs 39,999 per person.

The packages will include transportation and sightseeing in buses, night stay in an air-conditioned hotel, all vegetarian meals, and the cost of the appropriate class of train travel.

The destinations covered in the tour includes a visit to Sri Kesgarh Sahib Gurudwara and Virasat-e-khalsa at Anandpur Sahib, Gurudwara Sri Patalpuri Sahib at Kiratpur Sahib, Gurudwara Sri Fatehgarh Sahib at Sirhind, Sri Akal Takht Sahib and Sri Harmandir Sahib at Amritsar, Sri Damdama Sahib at Bathinda, Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazur Sahib at Nanded, Gurudwara Sri Guru Nanak Jhira Sahib at Bidar, and Gurudwara Sri Harmandarji Sahib at Patna.

Those willing to take part in Langars at important Gurdwaras can do so during this journey.

Housekeeping, onboard security, a tour guide, and travel insurance will also be provided to the passengers.

Bharat Gaurav Trains were started by Indian Railways to showcase the country’s magnificent historical sites and rich cultural legacy to both Indians and the foreign tourists. The purpose of the theme-based trains is to capitalise on India’s enormous tourism potential.

The first Bharat Gaurav Train was started in June last year between Coimbatore North and Sainagar Shirdi.

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IRCTC partners with HDFC Bank to launch co-branded travel credit card: Key features

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) and HDFC Bank on Wednesday announced a partnership to launch co-branded travel credit card called IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card to enhance travel experience of customers. The newly launched co-branded card is in a single variant and is available exclusively on NPCI’s Rupay network.

The credit card provides the customers exclusive benefits and maximum savings on bookings of train tickets booked through the IRCTC’s ticketing website and through IRCTC Rail Connect app. It also offers attractive joining bonus, discounts on bookings and access to the several executive lounges at railway stations across the country.

The credit customers can apply for the credit card through the websites of both IRCTC and HDFC Bank and access key details of the card through the app. They can also walk in to the nearest HDFC Bank branch to apply for the card.

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Key features and benefits of the IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card include:

• Welcome Benefit – Rs 500 Amazon voucher on card activation within 30 days of card issuance
• 5 Reward Points per Rs 100 spent on ticket bookings at www.irctc.co.in
• 5 percent Cashback on booking via Smart Buy
• 1 Reward Point per Rs 100 spent (not applicable on EMI, Fuel and Wallet re-load txns, on rental payments and Government related transactions)
• 8 Complimentary IRCTC Railway Lounge Access per year
• Additional reward Points on AC ticket booking
• Rs 500 Welcome Gift voucher on card activation within 30 days of card issuance.
• Gift Voucher worth INR 500 on spends of INR 30,000 within 90 days
• 1 percent Transaction charges waiver on IRCTC Website and App

The credit card was launched by Rajni Hasija, Chairman and Managing Director, IRCTC, Parag Rao, Group Head – Payments, Consumer Finance, Digital Banking and IT, HDFC Bank and Praveena Rai, COO, NPCI at a launch ceremony held at New Delhi.

“The card combines the strength of two leading Indian brands to deliver superior value and an enhanced customer experience to travellers. It will leverage HDFC Bank’s expertise as the market leader in card issuance in the country, offering its best-in-class rewards programme, and IRCTC’s unmatched services on train travel,” said the official statement.

Commenting on the association, IRCTC MD & Chairman Rajni Hasija said, “HDFC Bank is among the largest and most trusted banks in the country. We are delighted to partner with them for this initiative.”

“The co-branded card offers exclusive access to newly opened state-of-the-art lounges available at most of the major railway stations. The credit card will help to streamline online transactions and at the same time offer best-in-class benefits as well as experience to our customers.”

Parag Rao of HDFC Bank said that the IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card will enable the Bank to offer the card to millions of Indians across the country. “Indian Railways is one of the biggest public sector enterprises in the country and we are delighted to be the first private sector bank to partner with IRCTC to enhance customer experience for train travellers, right from the time of booking their tickets. As the largest card issuer in the country, it is our endeavour consistently to find new ways to nurture and support the payments ecosystem in India.”

“At RuPay, we have customers at the heart of all our offerings & innovations. We are happy to partner with IRCTC & HDFC Bank for a cobranded credit card which will offer seamless payment convenience and appealing benefits to customers for rail travel as well as their shopping needs. With RuPay Credit Cards now enabled on UPI for payments, this cobranded card will provide impetus to further adoption and reach of digital payments across India,” said NPCI COO Praveena Rai.

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IRCTC Q3 net profit grows 22%, firm declares dividend of Rs 3.5 per share

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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IRCTC, the tourism and ticketing arm of Indian Railways, on Thursday, reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 256 crore for the quarter ending December (Q3FY23), up 22.8 percent from Rs 208 crore reported in the last year period.

In the preceding quarter, the company’s revenue rose by 70 percent year-over-year to reach Rs 918 crore, compared to Rs 540 crore in the same quarter the previous year. The EBITDA for the business rose 16.7 percent to Rs 325.8 crore from Rs 279.2 crore the year before.

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However, despite the overall growth in revenue and EBITDA, IRCTC’s margin saw a decline, dropping from 51.7 percent in the previous year to 35.5 percent in the December quarter.

Further, it declared an interim dividend of Rs 3.50 per share for the financial year 2022-23. This represents a staggering 175 percent of the company’s paid-up share capital, amounting to a total of Rs 160 crore.

The IRCTC’s internet ticketing business has faced challenges in the third quarter. Despite this, the company’s overall performance has been positively impacted by growth in other businesses. This has resulted in a boost to overall margins year-over-year. Additionally, the company’s profit after tax has been supported by a significant increase in other income.

The shares of IRCTC ended 1.3 percent higher on Thursday.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Indian Railways passengers can now order food via WhatsApp on select trains

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Passengers travelling by Indian Railways will now be able to order food via WhatsApp on selected trains. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) on Monday announced the WhatsApp initiative to make its e-catering services more customer-centric.

The Ministry of Railways, in a statement said that the IRCTC’s new e-catering services would be offered via the website www.catering.irctc.co.in as well its e-catering app ‘Food on Track’ and customers would also be able to place their orders via the WhatsApp number +91-8750001323.

The ministry added that the IRCTC’s e-catering service, which serves around 50,000 meals daily, will be implemented via WhatsApp in two stages.

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In the first phase, the customers will receive a WhatsApp message comprising the website details asking them if they want to opt for the e-catering service.  With this option, they can book meals from restaurants available at stations en route, directly via the e-catering website, without having to download the catering app.

In the next phase, the WhatsApp number will enable interactive two-way communication for the passengers, where an AI-powered chatbot will handle their e-catering queries and help them book meals.

At present, the WhatsApp service has been implemented on selected trains. The ministry added that it will enable the same on other trains, based on feedback and suggestions from the customers.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Indian Railways data breach: IRCTC servers not targeted, says corporation

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Following the data breach at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) earlier in December, reports now claim that the Indian Railways suffered a new data breach. According to a report by tech news website TechloMedia, data belonging to Indian Railways is up for sale on a hackers’ forum, which is usually used by cybercriminals to sell hacked data.

While not denying the reports of a data breach, the Indian Railways has denied that the breach originated from the servers of Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).

ANI, in a tweet, quoted a Railways spokesperson as saying, “On analysis of sample data, it is found that the sample data key pattern does not match with IRCTC history API. Suspected data breach is not from the IRCTC servers.”

Further investigation on the data breach is being done by IRCTC. All IRCTC business partners have been asked to immediately examine whether there is any data leakage from their end and apprise the results along with corrective measures taken to IRCTC: Indian Railways

— ANI (@ANI) December 28, 2022

After the statement from the government, Techlomedia came back saying that the data was leaked from RailYatri’s website.

“The dataset had mostly train ticket records and the seller also claimed it belong to Indian Railways. So, my previous report also claimed the same. But this leaked data links to Railyatri. Someone breached Railyatri’s servers or used a vulnerability on their app to get access to this data dump,” the report read.

As per the report, a hacker — using the alias shadowhacker — has posted the data of 30 million Indian Railways users on the portal for sale.

The data available has two parts. The first is user data, including username, email, phone number, gender, city, state, and language preference.

This information is usually provided while making an account on the IRCTC. The second part is the booking data. This includes the passenger’s name, mobile, train number, travel details, invoice PDF, and other information users provide while booking a ticket.

According to the report on Techlomedia, when some of the sample user data provided by the hacker were checked for PNR verification on the IRCTC website, it was found to be legit and also belonged to recent journeys.

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According to the listing, the seller provides only five copies of the data and charges $400 per copy. Exclusive access to data will be available for $1,500. In addition, the seller claims to provide the data and vulnerability details for $2,000.

Earlier in 2020, Railyatri suffered a similar data breach that affected seven million users.

In the data breach that took place in AIIMS on November 23, patients and doctors complained about the hospital’s services working slowly. As a result, the hospital was forced into manual work from seven in the morning. The National Informatic Centre investigated the issue and found signs of a ransomware attack on the hospital’s servers.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

IRCTC’s standalone OFS model commends itself for adoption in replacement of IPO-cum-OFS

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Initial Public Offers (IPO) have been characterised by the simultaneous Offer for Sale (OFS). In other words, OFS has invariably been riding piggyback on IPO.  The reason is not far to seek.  Ever since free pricing on the back of book-building came to vogue in 1991 after the dismantling of the Controller of Capital Issues regime, one has witnessed aggressive pricing of shares issued on IPO. So much so, even loss-making companies have been commanding mind-boggling premiums on IPO. This touching faith in the Indian story by the Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIB), who alone are allowed to partake in book-building, a price discovery exercise, has however had a deleterious impact on the retail investors—-they have  no choice  but subscribe at  the same  price discovered by QIB. In other words, QIB have been playing a pied-piper role insofar as retail investors are concerned.  Often retail investors have been singed at the altar of IPO-cum-OFS and the major beneficiaries of which of course are promoters and venture capitalists who unload their holdings at the IPO price through the simultaneous OFS platform.  

Stock market is the best place for price discovery over a period of time. Recent history is replete with instances of shares tanking to half or less vis-à-vis the IPO price thus proving the optimism of QIBs wrong who for good measure are led up the garden path by merchant bankers. In other words, the true worth of a share is discovered much later say during the six months after listing.

Therefore, the government should stop promoters from riding piggyback on IPO by unloading their shares through the simultaneous OFS platform. The government must mandate that OFS is permissible only post IPO i.e., after the market has had the time to determine the true worth of a company. And this is what IRCTC has been doing voluntarily even in the absence of the government diktat. IRCTC made its IPO in September 2019 at Rs 315-320 per share.  The premium as can be seen was modest so as to allow listing gains for the small investors which is the main gravitas for their participation in IPOs. Post IPO i.e., in December 2020, the government had launched OFS in IRCTC at the floor price of Rs 1367 and the allotment price was Rs 1377.55 apiece, before a stock split.

In other words, the government benchmarked its disinvestment in IRCTC transparently on the stock market quotations just as it has done so again now in the second round of OFS at a floor price of Rs 680 per share, once again benchmarked against the prevailing quotation which is perilously close to the floor price. In the second round of OFS the government is unloading 5 percent stake including the green shoe option. At present, i.e., after the first round of OFS, the government owns 67.4 per cent stake in IRCTC.

The IRCTC template commends itself for adoption by the lawmakers. The IRCTC model is commendable inasmuch as its OFS does not lean on the crutches of IPO which is de rigueur in the IPO-cum-OFS model witnessed in the private sector. The IRCTC model sets store by the market quotations and benchmarks its OFS against such quotations whereas the IPO-cum-OFS model sets store by what QIBs have discovered. The price discovered at the bourses over a sufficiently long time is more reflective of the true worth of a share. A promoter, who in case of IRCTC is the Government of India, must be obliged to unload its holdings in one go or gradually in the bourses or to the public vide OFS at the price benchmarked against the market quotations. This is at once fair to both the promoters and the investors as against the IPO-cum-OFS platform through which the promoters exit at exorbitant price even while welcoming the public in at the same exorbitant price. This is conflict of interest of the highest order. It is surprising that such blatant and patent conflict of interest has been countenanced all these years. Time the government called an end to it and mandated the IRCTC model of standalone OFS post IPO i.e., on the basis of stock market quotations.

— The author S Murlidharan is a CA by qualification, and writes on economic issues, fiscal and commercial laws. The views expressed in the article are his own.

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3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Stock market updates: Sensex, Nifty witness worst single-day drop in two months dragged lower by IT stocks

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian equities ended lower on the weekly options expiry session on Thursday after a sharp drop in the last hour.

The Sensex fell close to 900 points while the Nifty 50 index declined to close near the 18,400 mark. 44 out of the 50 index constituents ended with losses. Technology names continued to be the biggest losers on the Nifty 50 index.

The Nifty Bank index ended with losses of 550 points after two straight days of record closing.

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3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow