Directors Report of Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Ltd.

Mar 31, 2025

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am delighted to present the 26^th Board’s Report of your Company, along with Audited
Standalone and Consolidated Financial Statements for the Financial Year 2024-25 together with the Auditors’ Report and Comments
on the Accounts by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India. The detailed financial and operational performance of the
Company is produced in the report.

ELEVATION TO SCHEDULE “A” and “NAVRATNA” STATUS

During 2024-25, IRCTC was upgraded to Schedule “A” CPSE by Government of India as conveyed vide Ministry of Railways’ letter
dated July 19, 2024. IRCTC's promotion to a 'Schedule A' category CPSE signifies IRCTC's robust performance and reflects positively
on IRCTC's management, operations, and contribution to the hospitality, travel, and tourism sectors under the Ministry of Railways.

The Company added another feather in its cap when, on March 3, 2025 , IRCTC was elevated to Navratna status — making it the
25^th Navratna CPSE across the central PSEs. This is the second-highest PSU ranking, positioned between Maharatna and Miniratna.

With its elevation to Schedule A and Navratna status, IRCTC has transitioned from operational prominence to strategic autonomy,
gaining enhanced financial and managerial autonomy to pursue growth in tourism, catering, technology, and global markets.

INTEGRAL REPORTS

The reports as reproduced in the table below with relevant sub-appendices form an integral part of this Board’s Report, and have
been placed with their Annexures respectively:

Name of the Report	Annexure
Management Discussion and Analysis Report	“A”
Report on Corporate Governance	“B”
Annual Report on CSR and Sustainability Activities	“C”
Secretarial Auditor Report	“D”
Management replies to observations in the Secretarial Auditor Report	“E”
Management replies to remarks in the Independent Auditor Report	“F”
Form AOC-2	“G”
Business Responsibility & Sustainability Report along with Independent Assurance Statement	“H”

The Management Discussion and Analysis Report provides
an overview of the affairs of the Company, its legal status
and autonomy, business environment, mission & objectives,
sectoral and segment-wise operational performance, strengths,
opportunities, constraints, strategy and risks and concerns,
as well as human resource and internal control systems
[Annexure - “A”].

The Report on Corporate Governance highlights the philosophy
of Corporate Governance, composition of its Board of Directors
and its Committees, their details including profile of directors
whojoined the Board during 2024-25 and thereafter, attendance
and remuneration of directors, declaration of independent
director etc., other relevant disclosures and general information
for shareholders [Annexure - “B”]. It is supplemented by the
following compliance certificates:

i.    Certificate signed by the Chairman & Managing Director
affirming receipt of compliance with the Code of Conduct
and Key Values from all Board members and Senior
Management personnel during the year 2024-25. (Placed
at Appendix - “B1”);

ii.    Certificate from Chairman & Managing Director and Chief
Financial Officer (CFO) with respect to the truth and fairness
of the Financial Statements, due compliances, and financial
reporting for FY 2024-25 (placed at Appendix - “B2”);

iii.    Certificate of compliance of Corporate Governance
provisions signed by a practising Company Secretary
(placed at Appendix - “B3”);

iv.    Certificate by practising Company Secretary regarding
non-disqualification of directors of the Company (placed at
Appendix- “B4”).

The Annual Report on CSR and Sustainability Activities provides
a brief outline of the company’s CSR and Sustainability policy,
the composition of the CSR Committee, the average net profit of
the Company for the last three financial years, prescribed CSR
expenditure, and details of CSR spent on the activities / projects
undertaken during the financial year etc. [Annexure - “C”].

Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR)
and Independent Assurance Statement

As per Regulation 34 of SEBI (LODR), BRSR indicates the
Company’s performance against the principles of the ‘National
Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct’, which would
enable the Members to have an insight into Environmental,
Social and Governance initiatives of the Company.

In line with Circulars issued by SEBI from time to time, the
BRSR Core KPI’s have been reasonably assured by “M/s
WIRE Consultancy”.

IRCTC’s Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report for
FY 2024-25 along with Independent Assurance Statement is
annexed as Annexure-”H”.

Pursuant to Section 204 of the Companies Act, 2013 read with
Companies (Appointment and Remuneration of Managerial
Personnel) Rules, 2014, IRCTC has appointed M/s Kumar Naresh
Sinha & Associates, Company Secretaries, an independent
practicing firm of Company Secretaries to conduct Secretarial
Audit for the financial year 2024-25. The Secretarial Audit
Report for the financial year ended March 31, 2025 is annexed
to this Report [Annexure -“D”].

The replies of the management to the observations contained
in the Secretarial Audit Report for the FY 2024-25 are placed
as Annexure-“E”.

The replies of the management to the remarks/emphasis
of matter made by the Independent Auditor in its report on
the financial statements for the year 2024-25 are placed
as Annexure-“F”.

The Form AOC-2 prescribed under clause (h) of sub-section (3)
of section 134 of Companies Act and Rule (8) of the Companies
(Accounts) Rule is placed as Annexure-“G”.

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW

Financial highlights on standalone basis for FY 2024-25 are as under:

Particulars	F.Y. 2024-25	F.Y. 2023-24	% age Increase/ Decrease
Revenue from Operations	4,674.77	4,260.21	9.73%
Total Income	4,903.45	4,424.69	10.82%
EBITDA (Profit Before Exceptional Items, Finance Cost, Tax, Depreciation & Amortisation)	1,778.54	1,630.68	9.07%
Depreciation	52.58	57.22	-8.11%
Profit Before Tax & Exceptional Items	1,709.07	1,554.81	9.92%
Profit before tax	1,756.95	1,496.28	17.42%
Provision for Tax	442.30	385.03	14.87%
Profit after tax	1,314.66	1,111.26	18.30%
Interim Dividend	560.00	200.00	180.00%
Final Dividend	80.00	320.00	-75.00%
General Reserve	35.00	35.00	0.00%
Reserves & Surplus	3,503.30	3,069.97	14.12%
Net Worth	3,663.30	3,229.97	13.42%
Earnings Per Share (H)	16.43	13.89	18.29

• Capital Structure:

The authorised and paid-up share capital of the Company
at the end of the current financial year was H250 crore
(125 crores shares of H2/- each) and H160 crore (80 crores
shares of H2/- each) respectively and there was no change
in the above during the year.

There was no change in the shareholding of Government
of India in the Company during the year 2024-25. As
on 31.03.2025, President of India (PoI) held 49,91,72,170
Equity shares (i.e., 62.40% of the total paid-up equity
share capital) with balance 37.60% shares being held by
Insurance Companies, FPIs, Institutions, Mutual Funds,
Banks, Body Corporates, Individuals, etc.

The details of dematerialisation of shares, Demat
Suspense Account / Unclaimed Suspense Account are
provided in the Corporate Governance Report, as annexed
to this report.

•    Transfer to Reserves:

During 2024-25, the Company transferred H35 Crores to
General reserves.

•    Dividend:

The Board of Directors has recommended a Final
Dividend of HI/- per share (face value of H2 each) for the
financial year 2024-25, amounting to H80 Crores, subject
to approval of the shareholders in the ensuing AGM. This

Final Dividend is in addition to the first interim dividend of
H4.00 per equity share (face value of H2 each), amounting
to H320 crores, paid in November 2024, and the second
interim dividend of H3.00 per equity share (face value of H2
each), amounting to H240 crores, paid in March 2025.

Accordingly, the total dividend for the financial year 2024¬
25 aggregates to H8.00 per equity share (face value of H2
each), amounting to H640 crore which works out to 48.68%
of the post-tax profits for 2024-25 and 17.47% of Networth
as of March 31, 2025.

The declaration of dividend by the Company for the
financial year 2024-25 is in compliance with the guidelines
issued by the Department of Investment and Public Asset
Management (DIPAM), which prescribes that the minimum
dividend to be paid for the year should be at least 4% of
net worth or 30% of profit after tax, whichever is higher.

•    Dividend Distribution Policy:

The Dividend Distribution Policy of the Company
is available on the Company’s website at https://
www.irctc.com/assets/images/IRCTC_DIVIDEND%20
DISTRIBUTION%2 0POLICY-_31.07.2 019_CB%2 0
Comments%20r05.08.20191.pdf

•    Unpaid/Unclaimed Dividend :

The details of unpaid/unclaimed dividend are available
on the website of the Company at the link https://www.
irctc.com/iepf.html, and is also disclosed in the Corporate
Governance report.

•    Company’s contribution by way of revenue share to
Ministry of Railways:

The Company also contributes by way of revenue share
to Ministry of Railways (MoR) and the total share of such
contribution was H638.50 Crores during the year as
against H620.14 Crores in FY 2023-24.

Contribution to the revenue to MoR comprises of Haulage
Charges and Railway Share.

•    Employee Stock options:

Your Company has not provided any Employee Stock
Option during the year, therefore, disclosure requirement
in relation to ESOP under Rule 12(9) and Rule 16(4) of the
Companies (Share Capital and Debentures) Rules, 2014 is
not applicable.

OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE

The segment wise operational performance of the Company
during 2024-25 is detailed below:

CATERING & HOSPITALITY

The Catering and Hospitality segment of IRCTC is segregated
as produced below:

Mobile Catering:

IRCTC is dedicated to providing onboard catering services
to passengers traveling by train, ensuring convenient
access to quality food during their journey. These services
are offered through two main modes: pantry cars or mini
pantries equipped with onboard storage, reheating, and
cooling facilities.

In trains equipped with pantry cars or mini pantries, food
is prepared and stored with the help of onboard facilities,
allowing for fresh meals to be served to passengers
throughout the journey

Mini-pantry

As on March 31, 2025, IRCTC successfully extended its onboard
catering services to a network of 1,269 trains, highlighting its
commitment to passenger comfort and satisfaction. The Mobile
Catering segment plays a vital role in enhancing the overall
travel experience by providing hygienic, timely, and convenient
food options for millions of travellers across the country.

• Vande Bharat Trains:

Vande Bharat trains is the pride of Indian Railways,
Presently, IRCTC is managing onboard catering
services in 60 esteemed Vande Bharat Train over
Indian Railways. menu on Vande Bharat trains is
thoughtfully designed to reflect regional cuisines
and cater to the popular preferences of passengers.
Emphasizing nutrition and diversity, the menu
also includes millet-based items, aligning with
contemporary health trends and passenger demand.

 

•    Train-Side Vending:

A significant number of Mail and Express trains do not
have pantry cars or mini pantries onboard. To ensure
uninterrupted catering services in such trains, IRCTC
facilitates onboard food service through the Train
Side Vending (TSV) arrangement. Under this system,
food and beverages are procured from originating
and en-route stations and served fresh to passengers
during the journey. This efficient mechanism allows
IRCTC to extend catering services to a wider network
of trains, maintaining the quality and convenience
expected by travellers.

As on March 31, 2025, IRCTC provided onboard
catering through Train Side Vending in 701 trains,
either on a sectional basis or end-to-end routes.

•    On-Board deployment of Catering Supervisors:

To ensure the highest standards of service quality,
IRCTC has deployed Supervisors and Catering
Assistants for end-to-end monitoring of onboard
catering services in all premium prepaid trains. For
Mail and Express trains, monitoring is carried out on a
sectional basis.

These onboard monitoring staff play a critical role
in overseeing catering operations and maintaining
service standards. They also serve as the first point
of contact for passengers, addressing grievances and
feedback in real time, thereby ensuring swift resolution
and enhancing the overall travel experience. This
proactive monitoring framework reflects IRCTC’s
commitment to service excellence, hygiene, and
passenger satisfaction across its catering network.

Food Safety Supervisors monitor food preparation,
conduct daily/ weekly/ monthly audits, impart routine
training to the kitchen staff and collect food samples
and ensure its lab testing on regular basis.

During FY 2024-25, 25,867 samples were collected
for the purpose of testing.

•    Point of Sale (POS) Handheld Billing Machines:

To eradicate overcharging, IRCTC has made issuance
of invoices through POS machines mandatory for
all vendors. These machines enable issuing of bills
for every transaction, including those in a moving
train. This also ensures proper accounting system
and control. At present, all units, mobile and static,
have provision for billing through the POS. Efforts
have been made for cashless transactions in all
Trains, Train-Side Vending etc. under the Digital India
initiative of the Government of India.

As on 31.03.2025, 4142 POS machines were made
available in 896 rakes of Pantry cars & 4039 POS
machines in 1062 rakes of TSV trains. Additionally,
638 nos. of POS machines have been installed in 541
static catering units, including Refreshment Rooms,
Jan Ahaars, Food Plazas, Fast Food Units, Retiring
Rooms, Executive Lounges, and RYN/BNR Hotels,
under IRCTC network,

•    War Room for Real time monitoring of Static &
Mobile Catering units:

An exclusive War Room equipped with latest
monitoring & communications facilities has been
set up at IRCTC Corporate Office. It is manned
by qualified, skilled, trained and experienced
manpower. War room is functional round the clock,
24x7 on all days.

War Room is not only dealing with Passenger
Complaints/grievances on real time basis
but also deals with its prompt redressal &
feedback management.

Besides above, War room is also monitoring its
Operational Kitchens at various locations across the

country, through customized Al integrated Cameras
on Large Screens, sharing operational & other
deficiencies through system generated Al Tickets for
prompt corrective action by the Service provider.

Quality Control:

To improve the standard quality meals and service for

passengers, IRCTC has put the following systems in place:

•    Complaint Monitoring & Redressal:

There is a monitoring team in place in the Company,
which forwards the complaints feedback data to
the concerned department/s and files interim reply
to passengers online followed by final remarks on
the action taken. Complaints /feedback pertaining
to IRCTC are recorded on E CSIM (Catering Service
Information Management) on the action taken and
disposal thereof.

A passenger can give feedback or register complaint
against catering services on ‘Rail Madad’ module
that allows passengers to lodge complaints through
mobile app/web platform. There are other various
methods to register complaints such as, CPGRAM,
National Consumer helpline, Complaint Books,
etc. During 2024-25, the Company resolved 442
CPGRAM cases, 126 CPGRAM appeals, 27 RTI’s and
442 NCH matters.

•    Food Safety Audits:

The Company also undertook third Party Food Safety
& Hygiene to get feedback on hygiene, quality of
food, infrastructure facility, implementation of FSSAI
regulations. Te details of the audit undertaken for
static and mobile units is detailed below:

Â	No. of Third-party Food Safety
Type of units	and Hygiene Audit Conducted FY
Â	2024-25
Static	311
Mobile	2142

• Customer Satisfaction Survey:

To get the feedback and opinion of travelling
passengers, IRCTC engaged MRSI (Market research
society of India) to conduct Third party Customer
Satisfaction survey as produced below:

Type of units	No. of Third-party Customer Satisfaction survey in FY 2024-25
Static	347
Mobile	218

24¹7 live monitoring with Cameras in the Kitchen; IRCTC is
aiming to improve transparency, accountability, and overall
quality control. Central monitoring system is in place at War
Room along with zonal monitoring system at zonal offices.
The system enables live monitoring and corrective steps
in case of exceptions. For efficient monitoring of quality of
cluster kitchens, the Company has installed 1652 cameras
till 31^st March, 2025.

Regular & Surprise Inspections:

Regular onboard inspections are being conducted by
IRCTC officials periodically in trains and catering units at
stations, in addition, surprise inspections are also being
carried out by IRCTC’s officers from the Corporate and the
Zonal offices and designated Railways' officials. Necessary
corrective actions are taken on the deficiencies noticed
during these inspections. During the year 2024-25, 4249
inspections were conducted in IRCTC domain.

QR Codes:

In order to create awareness amongst travelling
passengers, concept of QR Codes was started wherein
passenger can scan the QR code available on food
packets and get the information about date of preparation
of food, name of kitchen, FSSAI license number of unit,
weight of dish etc.

Sample QR code used on food packet

On scanning QR Code the link is directed to IRCTC website
www.menurates.irctc.co.in

CCTV Monitoring:

IRCTC has made a significant progress toward the safety
and hygiene of its food operations by installing AI enabled
CCTV cameras in kitchens across the country. With the

Static Catering

Static catering units are such units which are located
at station premises and offers catering services at
affordable prices to the travelling passengers on Indian
Railway network.

Â			>	Food Plazas
Â			>	Fast Food Units
Â			>	Food Courts
Â			>	Retiring Rooms
f	>	Â	>	Executive Lounges
Static Catering		—	Â	Â
V	/		>	Jan Ahaars
Â			>	Refreshment Rooms at
Â	Â	Â	Â	A1 & A category stations
Â	Â		Â	f "\
Â	Â		Â	Rail Yatri Niwas/BNR Hotels
Â	Â		Â	V J
Â	Â		Â	r \
Â	Â		Â	Non Railway Catering
Â			Â	l )

As on March 31^st March, 2025, IRCTC managed 149 Food
Plazas, 161 Fast Food Units, 1 Food Court, 130 Refreshment
Rooms, 38 Jan Ahaars, 7 Executive Lounges, 52 Retiring
Rooms, 01 RYN & 02 BNR Hotels.

IRCTC manages the following static catering units:

• Food Plazas: It is a multi-cuisine plaza giving a
variety of choice for eating. The quality and rates for
items of food plazas are market driven. Food Plazas
normally provide multi-cuisine food under one roof, in
a relaxed dine-in atmosphere with a good ambience
and a common kitchen to provide a wide variety of
food items. As on 31.03.2025, IRCTC managed 149
Food Plaza across IR network.

•    Fast Food Units: These food outlets are self-service
units, where menu and prices of items are market-
driven. Generally packed food & beverage items
including aerated drinks, Biscuits, Chips, Namkeens,
Chocolates and Ready to Eat meals (RTE) and
Railneer PDW etc are served. As on 31.03.2025,
IRCTC managed 161 Fast Food Unit across IR network.

•    Food Court: Food Court consists of different food &
beverage outlets offering an array of food & beverage
items of different cuisines with common dine-in
facility. The different outlet in the food court caters to
the travelling passengers. As on 31.03.2025, IRCTC
managed 01 Food Court at Cuttak Railway Station.

•    Refreshment Rooms: The menu and tariff are
regulated by Railways and the meal items served
includes snacks, a-la-carte items, standard breakfast/
lunch/dinner, Janta Khana etc. In addition, approved
brands of packed items such as aerated drinks,
Biscuits, Chips, Namkeens, Chocolates and Ready
to Eat meals (RTE) and Railneer PDW etc. are also
served. As on 31.03.2025, IRCTC managed 130
Refreshment Rooms across IR network. ¹

•    Retiring Rooms: IRCTC manages Retiring Rooms
at major railway stations to provide comfortable
accommodation facilities to the travelling passengers
at affordable prices. Retiring Room offers facilities
such as Air Conditioned Rooms and Dormitories,
Quality Linen, Locker facility for luggage, LED
Television, Bathrooms with all basic facilities such
as WC, Geysers, Shower etc. with pantry and
housekeeping services. As on 31.03.2025, IRCTC
managed 52 Retiring Rooms across IR network.

•    Executive Lounges: IRCTC has been mandated
for management of Executive Lounge at stations.
Executive lounge at stations provide services like
wash and change, wi-fi internet, live TV, channel
music, newspaper/book stand, buffet services
concierge services for pre-departure and post arrival
assistance to the passengers etc. on payment basis.
As on 31.03.2025, IRCTC managed 7 Executive
Lounges across IR network.

•    Non-Railway Catering: As on 31^st March, 2025,
the Company has completed six major Non-Railway
Catering units pan India. Prominent amongst them
are Calcutta High Court, Indian Maritime University,
NIFT Mumbai, TRAI in Delhi, Lok Bhawan in Lucknow.

•    Rail Yatri Niwas/BNR Hotels: IRCTC also manages
Rail Yatri Niwas/BNR Hotels. As on 31.03.2025, IRCTC
managed One Rail Yatri Niwas at Howrah and two
BNR Hotels at Puri and Ranchi Railway stations.

Future Strategy:

•    Ministry of Railways has undertaken station
redevelopment over IR network under ABSS. In
order toeffectively plan, coordinate, and implement
catering operations at the newly developed units,
ensuring service continuity and quality, IRCTC has
approached Zonal Railways for provision of details
of catering sites to be developed at stations for
continuity of services.

•    Development of Budget Hotels- MoU with RLDA for
undertaking the project for development of budget
hotels is under process for finalization

Budget Hotels:

As part of its expansion strategy, IRCTC aims to establish
a nationwide network of budget-friendly hotels catering
to the needs of economy-class and budget-conscious
travelers, thereby enhancing its footprint in the hospitality
sector as stated below:.

•    Budget Hotel at Lucknow: IRCTC successfully
commissioned 110 Key Budget Hotel at Lucknow.
The property started it's commercial operation
in March 2025 after taking due permissions and
acquiring licenses for operation of hotel. The hotel
has facilities to cater to demand of business travelers,
tourists and MICE.

•    Budget Hotel at Khajuraho: Work for setting up of
60 Key Budget Hotels at Khajuraho is in progress.
Development of Hotel is through PPP Model with
investment of B 7.5 crore. Expected date of completion
of Budget Hotel at Khajuraho is March, 2026.

•    Budget Hotel at Kevadia: Due to increase in footfall
at Statute of Unity and to tap the tourism potential
of upcoming tourist destination of Kevadia, IRCTC
is in process to create Budget Accommodation at
Kevadia. In the first phase, work for setting up of 125
Key Budget Hotels at Kevadia is in progress through
PPP Model with investment of B 20 crores. Expected
date of completion of Budget Hotel at Kevadia
is August, 2026.

•    Other Hotels in pipeline:

Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, IRCTC is in process to
purchase suitable land parcel for development of
Budget Hotel at Holy City of Ayodhya.

Vishakhapatnam, Tirupati & Amravathi, Andhra
Pradesh, IRCTC is in advance stage of discussion
to acquire suitable land parcel from Govt. of Andhra
Pradesh at Vishakhapatnam, Tirupati & Amravathi.

E-catering

We are embracing technology in the catering and
hospitality domain through the e-Catering services.
This initiative seamlessly integrates technology into the
culinary experience for train travelers. Leveraging this
internet-based service; passengers can now conveniently
book their preferred meals from a selection of partner
restaurants and food outlets using a mobile application
while travelling on trains. This innovative approach enables
passengers to enjoy delicious meals delivered directly to
their seat or berth.

New Branded Player Joins IRCTC e-Catering

In FY 2024-25, IRCTC e-Catering services has empanelled
Zomato and Swiggy as a regular e-Catering Food
Aggregator for a period of 03 years with the shared vision
of bringing convenient food options to our passengers,
to make their train journeys delightful. Both Zomato and
Swiggy are thriving in their efforts to deliver top-notch
food experiences to consumers.

Bikanerwala is a well-known brand that specializes in
Rajasthani snacks and sweets. With the addition of IRCTC
eCatering on Indian Railways, passengers can now enjoy
Bikanerwala’s offerings during their train journeys, bringing
Rajasthani flavors onboard. Key offerings include a variety
of sweets, snacks, and Rajasthani thali options.

KFC a global fast-food chain famous for its fried chicken,
offers large meal bundles through its eCatering services.
With IRCTC eCatering on Indian Railways, KFC now
delivers its signature chicken buckets, wraps, sides, and
desserts to train passengers, making it perfect for a casual
meal while traveling.

Pizza Hut is known for its pizzas and Italian-inspired meals.
Its eCatering services provide family-sized pizzas and
large orders suitable for group gatherings. Through IRCTC
eCatering on Indian Railways, Pizza Hut brings these
crowd-pleasing options directly to passengers traveling
across India, making their journeys more enjoyable.

Biryani By Kilo specializes in aromatic biryanis cooked in
traditional handis now available through IRCTC eCatering
on Indian Railways, passengers can savor this rich and
flavorful biryani on the go, perfect for long train journeys.

Additionally, efforts toward enhancing the ‘Food on Track’ mobile app were undertaken, as reflected in its achievement of
a 4.8 rating on the Google Play Store. The app was praised for its seamless experience, user-friendly interface, extensive
restaurant choices, and prompt delivery, even on long routes. These developments collectively strengthened the reliability and
outreach of IRCTC’s e-Catering services.

In FY 2024-25, IRCTC e-Catering touched all time high of average booking of meals per day as 91,543 with approximately 66%
of growth vis-a-vis previous year. The expansion of e-Catering in terms of meals booked per day is described vide chart.

e-Catering QR code for order booking

TRAVEL AND TOURISM

Tourism is one of the world’s largest economic sectors
that creates jobs, drives exports and generates prosperity
across the world. It also has the major potential to contribute
to the local economy. India being diverse in landscapes,
cuisines, heritage, adventure, wildlife and culture has
emerged as a well-known destination for both overseas
and domestic travellers in the recent years. Since Tourism
is an integral part of the economy, various development
initiatives have been taken up by the Ministry of Tourism,
Government of India from time to time.

Travel & Tourism 10 years from now: World Travel &
Tourism Council (WTTC) is forecasting a promising future
for the next decade, characterised by robust growth and
unparalleled career opportunities. The details of various
parameters in connection to travel and tourism are
elaborated below:

•    Global Growth:

WTTC anticipates a significant increase in the Travel &
Tourism sector's contribution to the global economy,
moving from 10% in 2024 to 11.5% in 2035.

•    Increased GDP Contribution:

The sector's contribution to global GDP is expected to
rise from $10.9 trillion in 2024 to $16.5 trillion by 2035.

•    Job Creation:

Travel & Tourism is also expected to be a major
source of job creation, with the sector projected to
support 449 million jobs worldwide by 2034.

•    Emerging Markets:

Emerging Markets, particularly India, are expected to
play a crucial role in driving this growth.

•    India's Potential:

WTTC projects India's Travel & Tourism sector to
grow from a GDP contribution of B 21.15 TN in 2024
to potentially B 43.25 TN by 2034, supporting nearly
63 million jobs.

The growing influence of the Tourism Sector as an
Economic Powerhouse and its potential as a tool for
development are irrefutable. Not only does the tourism
sector spearhead growth, it also improves the quality of
people’s lives with its capacity to generate large scale
employment of diverse kind. It supports environmental
protection, champions diverse cultural heritage and
strengthens peace & harmony in the world.

Facilitation as well as strengthening of tourism in India
is the main objective of Ministry of Tourism. Augmenting
Tourism Infrastructure, easing of Visa Regime, assurance of
Quality Standards in services of Tourism Service Providers,
projection of the country as a 365 days’ tourist destination,
promotion of sustainable tourism etc. are some of the
policy areas which need to be constantly worked upon to
increase and facilitate tourism in India.

Domestic Tourism together with Inbound Tourism has
emerged as a key driver of economic growth. In year
2024, India recorded Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs)
of 9.66 million (Provisional) which generated Foreign
Exchange Earnings (FEEs) of B 2,77,842 crores (Provisional
estimates) with a growth of 19.8%. Besides as per the data
furnished by State/UT Governments and other information
available with the Ministry of Tourism, there were 2509.13
million Domestic Tourist Visits (DTVs) all over the country
during the year 2023.

Tourism sector is one of the fastest growing economic
sectors with a significant impact on employment which
accelerates regional development with a multiplier effect
on the activity of related sectors. Among economically
advanced states, Domestic Tourism has become the
key driving factor to the development of tourism. It can
generate resources for conservation of Cultural and
Natural Heritage and has a huge potential to make a
positive contribution to sustainable development goals
of tourist destinations. As per the 3^rd Tourism Satellite
Account (TSA), the study conducted by Ministry of Tourism,
estimated share of Tourism jobs in India during 2022-23
was 12.57%. The tourism sector contributed 5% to India’s
GDP, further highlighting its crucial role in the country’s
economic growth.

Indian Government has launched various schemes such as
PRASHAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage
Augmentation Drive- as per which 27 new sites have been
identified for development under PRASHAD scheme),
Swadesh Darshan (5 more projects have been sanctioned
in FY 2024- 25), CBSP (Scheme of Capacity Building for
Service Providers), NIDHI (National Integrated Database
of Hospitality Industry), Dekho Apna Desh, etc. to give a
boost to Domestic as well as International Tourism Market.

Identification, diversification, development, and promotion
of niche tourism products in the country is the initiative of
the Ministry to overcome the aspect of ‘seasonality’ and to
promote India as a 365 days’ destination, to attract tourists
with specific interests, and to ensure repeat visits to the
destinations in which India has a comparative advantage.
The following niche products have been identified for
development and promotion of Adventure, Meetings,
Incentives Conferences & Exhibitions (MICE), Sustainable
Tourism, Rural Tourism, Medical and Wellness Tourism,
Eco-Tourism, Golf and Cruise Tourism amongst others.

The World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC ) 2024
Economic Impact Research (EIR) in its report, revealed a
significant recovery of India’s Travel & Tourism sector,

with domestic tourism playing a pivotal role. The data
shows that while Domestic Tourism is driving the recovery
of the sector in India, International Travel spends remain
below pre-pandemic levels. According to the Global
Tourism Body’s latest research, the sector’s contribution
to India’s GDP reached just over B 19.13 Trillion in 2023 -
almost 10% ahead of 2019 levels. Employment in Travel &
Tourism grew by 10% to reach around 43 Million, 8% more
than in 2019. Domestic visitor spending was 15% ahead
of 2019, reaching B 14.64 Trillion. However the spending
from international visitors in the last year remained around
14% lower than 2019- B 0.4 Trillion less being spent by
international visitors last year than in 2019. (https://wttc.org/)

With the right government support, WTTC is forecasting
that the tourism sector could grow its annual GDP
contribution to B 43.25 Trillion by 2034, representing
7.6% of the Indian economy, and could potentially employ
almost 63 Million people across the country.The Indian
Government’s ambition to facilitate 100 Million inbound
tourists at the 100^th anniversary of India’s independence in
2047, as part of the 2047 vision, will act as a catalyst to the
Indian economy and make India one of the world’s most
popular and preferred travel destinations.

Being a Railway PSU, IRCTC specialises in rail-based
products and is the market leader in this segment. IRCTC
is one of the leading travel and tourism companies in the
market, catering to the needs of diverse tourist segments
be it land, customised or LTC packages. Besides Rail-

Based Tourism Products, IRCTC has also diversified into various other tourism businesses for increasing the market share in
the immensely competitive tourism market. Further new avenues have also been explored by planning new packages based
on heritage, culture, adventure, medical wellness and special interest tours. The efforts have resulted in launch of attractive,
competitive and economical tour packages. IRCTC has its exclusive tourism portal, www.irctctourism.com for showcasing and
booking of various tourism products in a single space, shown below as:

V		Y		If	Y
Â	Â	Â	Â	Â	Â
Domestic Tour Packages	Â	InboundTourist	Â	Air Ticket and	Other Tourism Activities
Rail Tour Packages	Â	Targeted Tours	Â	Corporate Travel	MICE
Holiday Packages	Â	Maharaja s’ Express	Â	Air Ticketing	Event Management
Packages with Charter	Â	Golden Chariot	Â	Corporate Travel	Booking of Charter
Train/Coaches	Â	Deluxe Tourist Trains	Â	Services	Trains & Coaches
Customise d Tours LTC Tours	Â	including Buddhist Circuit Tours	Â	Â	Hill and Heritage Charters Saloon Tours and Charters
Domestic Air Packages	Â			Outbound Tour	Online reservation of
Â		Â		- >¦ Packages	Accommodati on facilities Cruise Packages
|		!		Â
i		t		Â	VISA & FOREX
Â		Â	Â	Â	Â
IRCTC Corporate Tejas Train	Â	Mass Tourism Bharat Gaurav Trains	Â	Special Purpose Tours Educational Tours	Â
Â		State Special Tourist Trains Election Specials	Cultural Exchange Tours, etc		Â

IRCTC has marketed the products across India though
various marketing activities especially Digital Marketing
&social media. Due to large number of followers on social
media, the business from Tourism activities increased to
H 745.00 crores in FY 2024-25 (including State Special
Trains) as compared to H 691.00 Crores in FY 2023¬
24 registering an increase of 7.81% over previous year.
The major contributors in achieving the highest Tourism
Revenue in the FY 2024-25 are Bharat Gaurav Trains
(including State Special Trains and Deluxe Train), IRCTC
Corporate Tejas Trains, Maharajas' Express, Domestic Air
Packages and Outbound Tours etc.

The performance of the major Tourism Products are
provided below:

1. Domestic Tourism

i.    Rail Tour packages:    IRCTC offers

comprehensive rail tour package with all¬
inclusive services like confirmed onward
and return rail journey, road transfers,
accommodation, meals and sight-seeing at
reasonable rates. In FY 2024- 25, IRCTC has
provided service to 21,859 passengers through
Rail Tour packages. As on 31.03.2025, 99 Rail
Tour Packages were operational with 47 tour
packages to pilgrim destination and 52 tour
packages to Leisure Destinations.

ii.    Holiday Packages: IRCTC also operates
Holiday Packages (Land Packages) which
include road transfers, accommodation, meals

and sightseeing on the basis of itinerary. In
this package, the services are being offered
to passengers when they reach at destination
(whether from Railway Station/ Airport / Bus
Stand). In FY 2024- 25, a total 29,647 passengers
availed IRCTC Holiday Packages.

iii.    Packages with Charter Train/Coach: These
are all inclusive packages like Rail Tour
Packages, where the train travel is arranged
through chartered coaches or trains by IRCTC.
In the FY 2024- 25, IRCTC operated 10 RTP with
Charter Trains/ Coaches.

iv.    Customized Tour Package: These packages
are tailor-made based on the requirement
of the tourists such as budget, level of luxury,
places of Interest, length of stay etc. During
the Financial Year 2024- 25, a total of 5,594
number of passengers availed customised
packages of IRCTC.

v.    Leave Travel Concession (LTCs): Government
of India authorised IRCTC as one amongst three
PSUs for operating LTC tours. IRCTC offers general
and customised LTC packages to Government
employees. All IRCTC tours qualify for LTC travel.

vi.    Domestic Air packages: Domestic Air Packages
facilitate group travel to pilgrim/ leisure
destinations within the country with longer
segment covered by Air Travel. IRCTC operates
several Domestic Air packages from all the
Zones to various destinations like Shirdi, Goa,
Delhi, Tirupati, Gangtok, Darjeeling, Kalimpong,
Andaman and Nicobar, Ladakh, Srinagar,
Mumbai, Puri, Konark, Ayodhya and many more.
IRCTC provide accidental insurance coverage of
B 10 lakhs to each passenger making bookings
of IRCTC Domestic Air packages. In FY 2024- 25,
IRCTC has operated 629 Domestic Air Packages
and provided services to 13,079 passengers.

2. Inbound Tourist Targeted Tours

i. Maharajas’ Express: Maharajas’ Express has
created a brand image for IRCTC in the field
of luxury tourism in the international arena.
Launched in the year 2010, the Maharajas’
Express has won several international accolades
and has been awarded as the World’s leading
Luxury Tourist Train consecutively from the
year 2012 to 2018 at the World Travel Awards.
Maharajas’ Express operates on four different
itineraries out of which three itineraries are of
6 Nights/ 7 Days and one of 3 Nights/ 4 Days
which cover places like Udaipur, Jodhpur,
Bikaner, Jaipur, Ranthambore, Agra, Orchha,
Khajuraho and Varanasi. The itineraries have
been uploaded with departure dates on the

website of the train www.the-maharajas.com.
The train is operated during the tourist season
September to April.

 

During the FY 2024- 25, IRCTC has operated 26
trips for 1226 tourists (paid passengers) where
as in FY 2023- 24, IRCTC has operated 26 trips
for 995 tourists (paid passengers).

ii. Golden Chariot: Golden Chariot, the only luxury
train being operated in South India by Karnataka
State Tourism Development Corporation was
taken over by IRCTC for marketing, operations
and maintenance for a period of 10 years
through an Agreement signed between the two
organisations on 19^th November, 2019. IRCTC
took over physical possession of the train
in January, 2020.

 

The itineraries with departure dates of the train
have been uploaded on the official website
www.goldenchariot.org. Three itineraries
include Pride of Karnataka (5 Nights/6 Days),
Jewels of South (5 Nights/6 Days) and Glimpses of
Karnataka (3 Nights/4 Days) which cover various
destinations of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala
and Goa like Nanjangud, Mysore, Halebidu,
Chikamgaluru, Hospet, Goa, Kanchipuram,
Mahabalipuram, Thanjavur, Chettinad/ Karaikudi,
Cochin & Chertala/ Maraikulam.

During the FY 2024- 25, IRCTC has operated 3
trips carrying 115 tourists. IRCTC is marketing the
product extensively and hoping to increase the
frequency as well as number of passengers.

 

iii. Buddhist Circuit Special Train: IRCTC has
been operating the Buddhist Circuit utilising the
Bharat Gaurav Deluxe Rake. This rake is a fully
Air-Conditioned LHB Coach Train which offers a
7 Nights and 8 Days package covering all major
Buddhist Pilgrim destinations in India as well
as Lumbini in Nepal. The new rake of Buddhist
Circuit Train has state of the art features and
amenities such as Two exquisite Dining Cars,
Vacuum Bio-toilets, Air Suspension springs,
Security lockers, modified 2AC coaches with
side seating facility, On-board housekeeping
and Security, CCTV Camera Security, Accidental
Insurance Facility, Foot massager and Mini
library, etc. The itineraries with departure dates
of the train have been uploaded on www.
irctcbuddhisttrain.com. In FY 2024- 25, IRCTC
has operated 05 trips of Buddhist Special Train
Tours with 198 tourists in 05 trips.

iv.    Deluxe Tourist Train: IRCTC is also operating
various other Itineraries by the Bharat Gaurav
Deluxe Tourist Train viz. Sri Ramayana Yatra, Char
Dham , Bharat Nepal Yatra, Garvi Gujarat, Pravasi
Bhartiya Tour amongst others. In FY 2024- 25,
IRCTC operated 07 trip with 712 passengers.

v.    Outbound Tour Packages: IRCTC has
formulated various tour packages covering
destinations outside India. In FY 2024- 25, IRCTC
has operated 152 tours and provided services
to 3,904 no of passengers whereas, in FY 2023¬
24, IRCTC has operated 81 outbound packages
and provided services to 2,299 tourists.

3.    Air Ticketing and Corporate Travel

i.    Online Air ticketing: IRCTC’s air-ticketing micro¬
site www.air.irctc.co.in provides online booking
facility of Domestic as well as International Air-
tickets at very competitive prices with the lowest
convenience fee as compared to other portals
of Online Travel Agents (OTA) in the market.

Mobile app of IRCTC facilitates the booking
of air tickets on the go for Android and IOS
users. The average number of air ticket booked
per day through IRCTC in FY 2024- 25 is
5,118. IRCTC provides complimentary travel
insurance coverage of H 50 lakhs to passengers
of all the booking made through IRCTC
web page and App.

ii.    Corporate Travel Business: IRCTC offers
complete Travel Solutions for corporates, which
includes air ticketing, booking of domestic
including LTC tickets, as well as international
tickets, hotel bookings, Visa facilitation,
Insurance etc. IRCTC has decentralised
the business at Zonal level to make more
tie-ups with PSUs/ Ministries/ Government
Departments, etc. and better co-ordination
with the organisations. In FY 2024- 25, IRCTC
has added 26 new Corporate Clients making
the total number of corporate clients to 107
which includes PSUs/ Ministries/ Government
Departments and institutions for providing
corporate travel services.

4.    Mass Tourism

i.    Bharat Gaurav Trains: IRCTC is operating

Bharat Gaurav trains across India with the LHB
rakes provided by Indian Railways for promotion
of Rail based tourism in Domestic market at
reasonable prices. With the introduction of the
new Bharat Gaurav policy issued by Railway
Board, all Tourist Trains are being operated
under "Bharat Gaurav Policy”. IRCTC is having
10 rakes for operation of Bharat Gaurav
trains across India and one additional rake of
Karnataka Govt is also managed & operated by
IRCTC. In FY 2024- 25, IRCTC has operated 78
Bharat Gaurav train tours and provided services
to 35,445 number of passengers, whereas, in
FY 2023- 24, IRCTC has operated 86 trips and
provided service to 43,803 passengers.

The figures include amass the trips and
passengers of Bharat Gaurav Deluxe rakes
as well as Bharat Gaurav, Government of
Karnataka rakes.

ii.    State Tirth Special tours:

a.    State Special tours by Trains: IRCTC
operates the State Special Tourist Train
Tours in collaboration with various state
governments. The government selects
the beneficiaries of the tour package who
are mostly senior citizens. These train
tours cover various destinations of tourist
and pilgrim importance across India. In FY
2024- 25, IRCTC has operated 118 State
Special Trains for Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya
Pradesh, Goa, Chhattisgarh & Odisha
Government carrying 91,536 tourists to
various pilgrim places whereas in FY 2023¬
24, IRCTC has operated 95 State Special
trains for Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Delhi, Goa, Odisha & Jharkhand and
provided services to 70,280 passengers.

b.    State Special tours by Air: IRCTC
operated State Special tours for elderly
residents of state through Air. These air
tours were organised for Rajasthan State
Government ex- Jaipur to Kathmandu on
regular basis and operated 121 tours for
total 4,667 passengers.

iii.    IRCTC Corporate Trains: Under the directives
of the Ministry of Railways IRCTC started
the operation of the corporate premium
passenger trains in 2019 with Lucknow-Delhi-
Lucknow (LJN-NDLS-LJN) Tejas Express
commencing operations on 5^th October, 2019
followed by commencement of Ahmedabad-
Mumbai-Ahmedabad Tejas (ADI-MMCT-ADI)
on 19^th January, 2020.

In FY 2024- 25, IRCTC has operated these
Corporate Trains on regular basis (i.e. 6 days a
week) and has been successful in positioning
the rake as a unique Corporate Train amongst
the travelling public. ADI- MMCT Tejas was run
at 90.8% occupancy level and LJN- NDLS Tejas
was run at 72.5% occupancy levels respectively.
IRCTC has been trying to further enhance
the occupancy of the trains by introducing
various offers to passengers in lean & peak
season along with dynamic pricing to attract
passengers, etc.

iv.    Election Special Trains: IRCTC has been
entrusted with the responsibility of moving
the Military and Para-Military forces deputed
for security duty for the general and assembly
elections from FY 2013-14 onwards. IRCTC has
been nominated as a Single window for booking
and movement of Election Special Trains along

with provision of on-board catering services to
the forces on movement. In FY 2023- 24, IRCTC
has successfully operated 542 Election Special
Trains connected with assembly elections
in Karnataka, Panchayat Election in Gujarat,
Assembly election in 5 states and General
Election 2024. However, IRCTC has operated
677 election special trains and provided services
to 6,09,983 para-military forces in FY 2024- 25.

5.    Special Purpose Tours:

i.    Educational Tours: IRCTC operates educational
tours for students under its “travel to learn”
scheme and has tie-ups with various State
Governments as well as private schools for
operating educational tours for their students.
During the year 2024- 25, IRCTC has operated
various educational tours where in total 1100
students approx. have been served.

ii.    Cultural Exchange tours: IRCTC operated

the    following Cultural Exchange tours in

FY 2024- 25 as:

a)    Kashi Tamil Sangamam 3.0 was operated
from Chennai to Ayodhya- Kashi -
Prayagraj which provided services to
1,280 participants.

b)    Yuva Sangam tours-an initiative by
Government of India under “Ek Bharat
Shresth Bharat” scheme to strengthen
people to people connect especially
between youth belonging to various States/
UTs. In FY 2024- 25,IRCTC has successfully
conducted 26 tours and provided service
to approx. 1306 participants.

6.    Other Tourism Activities

i.    Event Management: IRCTC has been
organizing various Conferences, Events
and Incentive packages for Indian Railways,
PSUs, Education Department and other
prominent institutions. In FY 2024- 25, IRCTC
has conducted various Events and provided
services to 822 members/delegates.

ii.    Booking of Charter Trains and Coaches:

Ministry of Railways nominated IRCTC as the
single window agency for online booking of all
trains and coaches on charter basis. The online
booking of FTR Trains/ coaches is done through
IRCTC’s exclusive web page, www.ftr.irctc.
co.in/ftr. IRCTC also provide list of trains where
coaches can be added to facilitate the customer,
which is updated on regular basis. During FY
2024- 25, 286 (113 trains & 173 coaches) charter
trains/ coaches were booked through IRCTC.

iii.    Hill and Heritage Charters: IRCTC actively
promotes the 5 Hill Railways of India viz Nilgiri
Mountain Railway (NMR), Darjeeling Himalayan
Railway (DHR), Kalka-Shimla Railway, Kangra
Valley Railway and Matheran Railway. IRCTC
operates hill charters over Kalka-Shimla, Nilgiri
Mountain Railway and Darjeeling Himalayan
Railways UNESCO’s “World Heritage Sites”.

In FY 2024- 25, IRCTC has operated Shimla
Kalka Hill Charter and served 25 pax.

iv.    Luxurious Railway Saloon Car: Ministry of
Railways has entrusted IRCTC with the task of
marketing and booking of Saloon Cars across
India which is now open to be booked by any
passenger or company as special rail products.

A Saloon Car generally has a living room, two
air-conditioned bedrooms - one twin bedroom
and the other similar to AC First Class coupe
with attached baths, dining area and a kitchen.

Optional services like in-house attendant,
catering, pick up and drop are arranged
as per demand of tourists. In FY 2024- 25,
IRCTC has successfully operated 27 Saloon
Cars across India.

v.    Online booking of Retiring Rooms at Stations:

IRCTC has been providing the convenience
of online booking of retiring rooms to Railway
passengers having confirmed PNR across 373
Railway Stations through IRCTC’s tourism portal.
Passengers can also book Retiring Rooms on the
go on Android and iOS mobile through IRCTC
App. Hourly booking facilities of Retiring Room
is also available at many stations. At present,
about 80% of total retiring room bookings of
Indian Railways are being done online.

IRCTC has upgraded retiring rooms at 54 stations
viz. Palakkad (PGT), Tiruchchirappalli (TPJ),
Bilaspur (BSP), Lucknow NE (LJN), Gorakhpur
(GKP), Tatanagar (TATA), Sealdah (SDAH),
Rajendranagar Jn (RJPB), Jaipur (JP), Vadodara
(BRC), Madgaon (MAO), Thivim (THVM), Lonavala
(LNL), Mumbai Central (MMCT), Agra Cantt
(AGC), Gwalior (GWL), Pune (PUNE), Bhusaval
(BSL), Solapur (SUR), Jalgaon (JL), Guntur (GNT),
Nanded (NED), Parbhani (PBN), Kazipet (KZJ),
Udupi (UD), Kacheguda (KCG), Karwar (KAWR),
Dahod (DHD), Kakinada Town (CCT), Hosapet
(HPT), Araku (ARK), Varanasi (BSB), Ayodhya
(AY), Thanjavur (TJ), Kota (KOTA), Lucknow
Jn (LKO), Ranchi (RNC), Rajamundry (RJY),
Kalaburagi (KLBG), Anand (ANND), Nadiad (ND),

Kopargaon (KPG), Adilabad (ADB), Anand Vihar
(ANVT), Maihar (MYR), Nasik (NK), Hubballi (UBL),
Saugor (SGO), Damoh (DMO), Dwarka (DWK),
Davangere (DVG), Bhopal (BPL), Durgapur (GDR)
& Srikakulam Road (CHE) under PPP model. The
upgraded retiring rooms have hotel like facilities
such as fully Air-conditioned rooms with Wifi, TV,
Geyser, linen, sofas etc.

In FY 2024-25, total bookings for Retiring rooms
was 8.78 lakhs with total revenue of H54.84
Crores as against 8.05 lakhs bookings with
revenue of H48.43 Crores during FY 2023-24.

vi.    Online Hotel Booking: IRCTC had integrated
accommodation partners (Hotel, Home stay,
Dormitories, paying Guest Houses, Yatri Niwas,
Holiday Homes, etc.) for online booking through
www.hotels.irctc.co.in and IRCTC Tourism
mobile apps - Android and iOS.

Further to boost hotel business, IRCTC has
integrated with Hotel Aggregators to widen
its offering of hotel inventory on IRCTC Hotel
website. Customers now can book more than
70,000 hotels across 2,773 cities with starting
tariff as low as H300. Most of the hotels are
located near Railway Stations, Airports and
City Centers. In 2024-25, there were 25,308
bookings with gross revenue of HI7.03 Crores
as against 12,990 bookings with gross revenue
of H4.14 Crores during FY2023-24.

vii.    IRCTC accomplished its most ambitious project
of establishing and providing services to tourists
at Prayagraj in “IRCTC Mahakubh Gram” Tent City
during Mahakumbh 2025 from 10^th January to
27^th February 2025 constructed at a distance of
around 3.5 Km from Triveni Sangam. The facility
offered Super Deluxe and Villa Tents equipped
with modern amenities with attached bathroom,
24 x 7 hot and cold water, dining facilities,
medical support and CCTV surveillance. More
than 9500 tourists availed the stay in the tent
city of IRCTC during one of the largest religious
congregation of the world. IRCTC also operated
8 Bharat Gaurav Trains with pilgrims to Prayagraj
to attend Mahakumbh originating from various
destinations of the country such as Pune ,
Secunderabad (2 Trains), Tirunelveli, Indore,
Rajkot, Udaipur and Kolkata who availed the
lodging facilities at IRCTC Mahakumbh Gram
Tent City. IRCTC earned a gross revenue of
H7.55 Crores from the Tent City Business.

viii.    Online Bus booking: In January 2021, IRCTC
launched a dedicated Bus Portal www.bus.

irctc.co.in for facilitating its customers to buy
bus tickets online. Subsequent to launch of the
Bus Portal, IRCTC endeavours to be a One-
Stop Travel Solution Provider to the customers
to choose from either or all three modes of
transportation viz. Air, Rail and Road. Presently,
online bus booking can be made across 28
states and 4 UTs.

M/s. LE TRAVENUES TECHNOLOGY LIMITED
(AbhiBus) and M/s. REDBUS INDIA PRIVATE
LIMITED (RedBus) have been engaged as
empanelled service providers. The sourcing of
bus inventories on IRCTC Bus Portal has been
implemented through API Integration done with
Abhibus & Redbus.

In FY 2024-25, total no. of passengers who
have availed the IRCTC online bus booking
service were 1,93,479. Total no. of TIDs booked
during the FY 2024-25 were 1,24,314.

On an average about 340 bus tickets were
booked per day through IRCTC Bus Portal in FY:
2024-25 as against an average of 345 tickets
booked per day during FY 2023-24. There has
been decrease of approx. 1% in passengers
travelled and increase in approx. 4% in the
revenue generated in FY 2024-25 as compared
with that of FY 2023-24.

ix.    IRCTC Mobile Apps: In a step towards
promoting IRCTC products, the company has its
user-friendly Travel and Tourism Mobile Apps for
Android and iOS users. It hosts various products
& services like Bus, Flights, Hotels, Retiring Room,
Lounge, Tour Packages, Bharat Gaurav, Cruise,
Buddhist Train, Maharajas, Golden Chariot,
National Rail Museum, Trains at a Glance, Train
Tickets, Heliyatra & Digital Memories.

x.    Tourism Portal:

In the era of modern technology where internet,
websites and apps are being widely used in
the world, IRCTC has realised its potential of
growing as an Online Travel Agency. IRCTC’s
portal offers on-line booking of Tourist Trains,
Air tickets, Tour packages be it through rail, air
or land, Hotel, Saloon Cars, AC Tourist Trains,
Event Management, etc. To be at par with the
user friendliness and facilities which other OTAs
offer, IRCTC has revamped its tourism website.

In FY: 2024-25, total transactions generated
were 11,01,752 for 21,22,743 passengers with
a gross revenue of H677.92 Cr, in comparison
to 10,23,785 transactions and 23,17,989

passengers with the gross revenue of H773.68
Cr in FY 2023-24.

xi.    Trains at a Glance (TAG): The Trains at a Glance
- time table of Indian Railways with a high
readership gives detailed information about
routes, timings of important passenger trains,
premium trains; other details which are handy
for rail travel such as reservation procedures,
rules and regulation of travelling, passenger
amenities on trains and in stations including
catering, menu types and rates, and also about
rail-based tourism. IRCTC has been entrusted
with the work of printing and publishing of TAG.

Railway Board has entrusted IRCTC with printing
and selling of TAG online. IRCTC has been
printing and publishing Trains at a Glance for
Indian Railways since 2018 with the 41^st, 42^nd,
43^rd, 44^th& 45^th edition launched in 2018, 2019,
2022, 2023 & 2025 respectively.

Also, Trains at a Glance - 2025 is available in
digital format as “e-Book”. e-Book TAG-2025
(English) was made live on 08.01.2025 & e-Book
TAG-2025 (Hindi) was made live on 27.01.2025
respectively. Physical Book TAG-2025 was
made live on 11.02.2025.

Total 15,236 books including Physical & e-Book
of TAG-2023 were sold out with a gross revenue
of H11.88 lakhs as compared to the 12,941 total
books including Physical & e-Book being sold
out with a gross revenue ofH14.67 lakhs as
compared to the TAG-2022.

xii.    Indian Railway Magazines: IRCTC has opened
its new segment by providing a separate online
platform for booking of two Annual Railway
Magazines (both in English & Hindi) - Indian
Railways & Bharatiya Rail on 01.10.2020 which
has enhanced the reach of magazine to huge
prospective readers due to digitalization.

Presently, these magazines are also being
booked in digital format as “e-Magazine”,
and started getting good response from
the subscribers.

In FY: 2024-25, total TIDs generated were 660
with a gross revenue of H1.83 lakhs as against
504 TIDs generated with a gross revenue of
H1.58 lakhs during FY: 2023-24.

xiii.    Online Ticketing for National Rail Museum

(NRM): Online Ticketing System of National
Rail Museum (NRM), Chanakyapuri, New Delhi
is being managed by IRCTC since 14^th April,

2022 by facilitating visitors, who wish to book
their online tickets in advance through website
(www.nrmindia.org) for visiting Museum, and
for different Rides. Institutional Bookings
by Schools & other Institutions are also
enabled in the system.

Ticket booking can be made via multiple
payment modes, i.e., Credit/Debit cards, Net
banking, Wallets, UPI, etc. Further, counter
bookings are also enabled with POS machines
for digital payments.

QR codes enabled tickets can be scanned
through the Mobile App provided to the Ticket
checking staff at the different counters for
facilitating the easy entry of visitors.

In FY: 2023-24, 81,921 tickets were booked with
a transaction value of H2,52,47,922, where as in
FY 2024-25, 69,961 tickets were booked with a
transaction value of H2,08,82,893.

xiv. Heliyatra: IRCTC has tied up with Uttarakhand
Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA)
for providing Helicopter ticket booking system
for passengers to visit Shri Kedarnath Dham.
IRCTC has developed the Helicopter ticketing
website: www.heliyatra.irctc.co.in and has
successfully launched online Helicopter ticket
booking from 08.04.2023 for Shri Kedarnath Ji.
IRCTC also expanded online Helicopter ticket
booking for Hemkund Sahib Ji from 22.05.2024.
IRCTC has signed an MoU with UCADA for a
period of 5 years.

The online ticketing system for Helicopter
service to visit the Holy Shrine of Shri Kedarnath
Dham and Shri Hemkund Ji Sahib by the
pilgrims, is a prestigious project for IRCTC,
which is unique with complexities and multiple
variations. IRCTC is handling administrative
& Technical operations, Payment Gateway
accounting/ reconciliation, etc.

In FY 2024-25, total 74,497 tickets were booked
for 1,98,916 pilgrims, with total transaction value
of H122 Cr., and IRCTC Convenience Fees
amounting to H5.64 Cr. (Excl. GST).

Tourism Planning

IRCTC being a tourism arm of Indian Railways, in initial
phases, IRCTC has developed and promoted more of Rail
based tourism products. But to manage the competition in
the market, IRCTC has also launched and operated various
non- rail-based tourism products. With this extremely
diversified tourism product lines, there is tremendous
scope of growth in the field of tourism and it is seen that as

per the projection given by WTTC projects robust growth
for the Travel & Tourism sector in the next 10 years (2024¬
2034), with a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of
6.1% for the global economy.

IRCTC has been adding new feathers into its cap by
launching more Rail was well as non-rail based tourism
products to further enhance and consolidate tourism
business in the coming years.

IRCTC has been mandated to promote domestic tourism
with launch of "Bharat Gaurav Trains” which are also being
used for operation of State Special tourist trains. Also to
promote International Tourism, more of outbound tour
packages are being launched.

IRCTC is having in total 10 Bharat Gaurav rakes which
have been utilised to promote domestic tourism across
India and operation of 01 rake of Karnataka Govt is also
managed by IRCTC. These rakes have been kept with
minimum composition of 14 coaches.

However Specific thrust areas of the company identified
now for the coming financial year 2025- 26 are:-

1.    Bharat Gaurav Trains: To increase the business
from Bharat Gaurav Trains, IRCTC is taking additional
rake under BGT policy. It is expected that IRCTC will
operate 200 trips in FY 2025- 26 including State
Special Train Tours. The popular Bharat Gaurav
circuits are Sri Ramayana Yatra, Bharat Nepal Yatra,
Char Dham Yatra, Dakshin Darshan Yatra etc. and
specially curated circuits include Chhatrapati Shivaji
Maharaj Circuit, Guru Kripa Yatra, Jyotirlinga Yatra, Jain
Circuit Yatra, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Circuit Yatra etc.

2.    Rail Tour Packages: In previous year, IRCTC has
launched more than 100 Rail Tour Packages. In FY
2025-26, IRCTC will focus more on rationalisation of
RTPs and increase of occupancy of these packages.

3.    Golden Chariot: IRCTC has already launched the
dates of Golden Chariot for FY 2025-26, 2026- 27 &
2027- 28 for future planning and making the product
available in Domestic & International market.

4.    Cultural Confluence and exchange program under
EBSB (Ek Bharat Shreshta Bharat) scheme: IRCTC
with Ministry of Education will operate Yuva Sangam
Tour for identified HEIs as cultural exchange program
to give exposure to students about culture, heritage
and local touch.

5.    Customised Holiday packages: On the basis of
demand of customers, IRCTC will plan and develop
more customized packages for small groups of
family and friends, which will give tailor-made
variety to customers.

6.    Outbound tours: To provide competitively priced
packages for IRCTC international tours as well as
promote ease of Business, IRCTC has emphasized on
flexibility in policy guidelines, vendor diversification,
quality deliverables as well as imbibing cost & quality
competitiveness.

7.    Domestic Air Packages: Special thrust has been
given for this segment and the plan is to increase the
business tremendously. Focus on DMC strengthening
with quality deliverables is being ensured.

8.    State Special tours by Air: The operation of State
Special tours by Rajasthan was a resounding success
carrying 4,667 pax across 121 Tours from Jaipur
to Delhi and onwards to Kathmandu with similar
return scheduling. The Concept is being planned to
emulated across other states.

9.    Online Hotel Business: Presently IRCTC has
business tie ups with one of the leading OTAs for
providing online hotel room inventory. Apart from
that, IRCTC also does direct tie ups with individuals
and chains. Further, IRCTC is in the process of
establishing tie-ups with more hotel chains and room
inventory providers for increasing its business and
offerings to customers.

10.    MICE: There is a huge potential in this segment.
IRCTC is aggressively pitching itself as a potential
MICE player to tap the market by approaching
Corporate Houses and Ministries for conducting
Meetings, Incentive Tours, and Conferences etc.

INTERNET TICKETING

IRCTC’s internet ticketing website and mobile application
empower passengers to book railway tickets effortlessly from
the comfort of their homes, offices, or any location-eliminating
the need to visit a Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counter
in person. This digital convenience not only saves valuable time
but also greatly minimizes the hassle traditionally involved in
railway ticket booking.

With over two decades of remarkable growth, IRCTC has evolved
into one of the largest e-commerce platforms in the Asia-Pacific
region. This robust growth has empowered the common man
to harness the benefits of modern technology, making online
ticketing more accessible, convenient, and affordable.

In 2024-25, IRCTC’s Website and Mobile App facilitated 86.38%
of all reserved ticket bookings on Indian Railways, reaffirming its
leadership in online rail ticketing.

The site offers round-the-clock ticket booking services, except
for a 35-minute break from 23:45 hrs to 00:20 hrs. In the
financial year 2024-25, the IRCTC Website and Mobile App
recorded an average daily ticket sale of 13.88 lakh tickets,
registering an increase of 11.84% from the previous financial

year's daily average of 12.38 lakh tickets. These numbers
highlight the system's impressive growth and ascendancy in the
Indian e-commerce space.

Convenience Fee:

IRCTC collects Convenience Fee on e-ticket bookings at the
rate of H15/- + GST per ticket for Non-AC Classes and H30/- +
GST per ticket for AC Classes (including First Class/FC). For
those users, who make online payment for e-tickets through
BHIM/UPI payment mode, Convenience Fee is charged at a
reduced rate @ H10/- + GST per ticket for Non- AC Classes and
H20/- + GST per ticket for AC Classes (including First Class),
to promote digital payments, thereby fulfilling the Digital India
mission of the Government of India.

Internet ticketing through Ask Disha Chatbot:

Ask DISHA Chatbot (Digital Interaction to Seek Help Anytime),
an AI and Machine Learning-based innovative system, has
significantly improved upon traditional customer support
mechanisms. This advanced feature has streamlined the
booking process, offering quicker resolutions and an enhanced
user experience. The steady growth in bookings facilitated
through Ask DISHA is a clear indicator of its effectiveness
and reflects the promising future of AI-driven assistance in
passenger services.

Overview:

a.    Internet Ticketing: With a transaction volume of more
than 422.11 Lakh per month and 82.58 Lakh logins per
day, the Company operates one of the most popular and
transacted websites in the Asia-Pacific region. During FY
2024-2025, on an average 13.88 lakh tickets per day
were booked online for approx 24.41 Lakh passengers
per day for travelling on Indian Railways, which comprises
of approximately 86.38% of Indian Railways’ reserved
tickets booked online.

b.    NGeT System: Since the Next Generation E-Ticketing
(NGeT) System was implemented as a replacement for the
previous e-ticketing system, it has increased progressively
in per-minute ticket booking capacity from 2000 to
7200 tickets, which improved the system's efficiency. In
addition, a state-of-the-art data center has been setup in
CRIS premises at Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, to support

the upgraded system, increase the capacity and inflow of
daily bookings which is regularly updated to keep up with
technological advancements. The Company has a strong
customer database and leverages the same to crosssell
and add value to its products to enhance customer
engagement and derive top-line growth.

The NGeT System has now capacity to book over 30,000
tickets per minute, making it one of the most efficient
online ticketing systems globally. We have achieved
Highest ticket booking record of 30,155 tickets in a minute
on 12-March-2025 at 10.01 AM date.

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The NGeT System's outstanding performance and success is another break through in IRCTC's commitment to innovation and
technological advancement. The magnificent growth, efficiency and seamless experience have enabled millions of people to
access affordable and convenient online ticketing service, further solidifying its status as a leading e-commerce website.

c. IRCTC Rail Connect Mobile App e-ticketing: During FY 2024-25, average mobile ticket booking was 7.47 Lakhs per day, with
14.63 Crore downloads on the Mobile App and Daily Mobile Logins as 59.79 Lakhs. During FY 2024-25, more than 2725 lakh
tickets were booked using Mobile App, as against 2322 Lakh tickets booked in FY 2023-24. IRCTC Rail Connect Mobile is
one of the top most rated Mobile Apps of India in Google play store.

Rail Connect Mobile App is available on both Android and iOS: platforms.

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d.    IRCTC i-Pay - Payment Aggregator: IRCTC’s own Digital Payment Gateway- IRCTC i-Pay (A PCI-DSS Compliant Payment
Solution) is a one-stop payment solution which facilitates payments through all payment modes (like Internet Banking, Debit
Card, Credit Card, Wallets, UPI Account & Autopay) and for safe and secure transaction between the merchant website, multiple
issuing institutions, acquiring banks and the payment gateway providers. During FY 2024-25, i-Pay has generated a revenue of
H126 Crores with growth of 9.99% in comparison of revenue of H115 Crores in last FY 2023-24.

e.    To expand the PA business beyond IRCTC, IRCTC has established a subsidiary, IRCTC Payments Ltd, on February 10, 2024. The
RBI authorization is currently in process, with an application for In-Principle Approval submitted on December 12, 2024. Final
authorization is expected within a year. IRCTC Payments Ltd’s entry into the country’s payment ecosystem, primarily targeting
the Government/PSU sector, is anticipated to boost ongoing digitization of payments and will create new opportunities for
business growth and technological development for IRCTC.

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f.    New User Interface (UI): IRCTC has been constantly
contributing to enhance the customer experience and
convenience while booking reserved rail e-tickets through
its Website and Rail Connect Mobile App with the aim of
retaining its customer base. Keeping in mind the same,
IRCTC had launched the New User Interface of e-ticketing
Website and Mobile App with modified functionalities and
some additional features. Revamping of IRCTC e-ticketing
user interface was a Digital India initiative, which promises
to transform the service delivery experience offered
to travellers. Further, the New Interface for e-ticketing
enhances user experience and facilitation of the IRCTC
Website www.irctc.co.in and the IRCTC Rail Connect
Mobile Apps (Android & iOS: Platforms) with user-friendly
features and more comfortable navigation, which is
secured with advanced data systems and processes. The
look-and-feel of the interface is being changed with time,
with a simplified and appealing design.

g.    IRCTC Payment System: Diverse payment methods
and high transaction success rates are critical for the
growth of e-commerce and the enhancement of customer
experience. IRCTC is supporting a broad spectrum of
payment options, including Internet Banking, Credit &
Debit Cards, Digital Wallets, UPI, Book Now Pay Later
(BNPL), EMI, and iPay Autopay. This system is seamlessly
integrated across the IRCTC NGeT Rail Ticketing website,
mobile application and other integrated digital platforms.

For international users, IRCTC enables ticket bookings via
International Cards through integrated secure payment
gateways. The transactions on the IRCTC platform are
secured through OTP/PIN/Password verified and also 3D
Secure Authentication protocols (including Verified by
Visa, Master Card Secure Code, and American Express
Safe Key) are in place, as well as by the National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI) for RuPay and UPI payments.

To ensure maximum security and data privacy, all payment
transactions are conducted via secure URL redirection
method in encrypted format which eliminates the risk
of data leakage. Through server to server calls, attacks
against man-in-the-middle are safeguarded thus ensuring
complete transaction integrity.

h. Tatkal Scheme for Reserved Tickets: The Tatkal charges
have been fixed as a percentage of fares at the rate of 10%
of the basic fare for second class and 30% of the basic fare
for all other classes subject to minimum and maximum limits.
Tatkal tickets are issued for the actual distance of travel,
instead of end-to-end, subject to the distance restrictions
applicable to the train. The same Tatkal berth/seat may
be booked in multiple legs till preparation of the charts.
At the time of preparation of charts, the unutilised ones
are released to the General RAC/Waiting list passengers.
Tatkal booking opens at 10 AM for AC Classes and 11 AM
for Non-AC Classes for normal users. Tatkal tickets can

be booked one day in advance from the train originating
station excluding the date of journey of enroute stations.
The scheme is available on www.irctc.co.in and IRCTC Rail
Connect Mobile App where customers can book tickets on
the Tatkal scheme seamlessly.

i.    VIKALP Scheme: Travellers who have been put on the
waiting list, irrespective of a booking quota or concessions,
can choose maximum five trains under this scheme.
It does not confirm a berth, since it depends on the
availability of seats in the given train. There is no refund
or extra fare charged for these changed trains, including
the Tatkal prices. Either all passengers of a PNR opting for
this scheme will be transferred to alternate trains in the
same class or none will. Once confirmed in an alternate
train, the cancellation charges apply as per the usual
rules. A person can be transferred to any train available
within the window as per selection made by the user. The
train list once selected under VIKALP can be changed or
updated only once.

j.    Loyalty Program: In 2020, IRCTC and SBI launched a
new co-branded contactless credit card on NPCI's RuPay
platform. Subsequently, in Feb 2022, IRCTC collaborated
with Bank of Baroda to introduce the BOB Loyalty Co¬
Branded Credit Card on the RuPay platform. In another
stride towards enhancing its Co-Branded Credit Card
cum Loyalty Program, IRCTC partnered with HDFC Bank
in March 2023 and with RBL BANK in July 2024, to launch
two new Co-Branded Credit Cards in collaboration with
both banks on the indigenous RuPay platform. These co¬
branded credit cards offer frequent rail travellers significant
savings on their journeys and special benefits on retail,
dining, and entertainment, along with transaction fee
waivers. In addition, these collaborations have contributed
in increasing the traffic on their website and app, which
in turn generated a revenue of H39.54 Crores in Financial
Year 2023-24 and H44.48 Crores in Financial Year 2024-25.

k.    BHIM/UPI Payment Mode: During FY 2024-25,
total BHIM/UPI transactions were 2344.04 which is
46.28% of total online ticketing as against 1792.72
transactions in FY 2023-24.

l.    Travel Insurance: IRCTC introduced the travel insurance
for Indian citizens who use the IRCTC website application
to book their tickets. The travel insurance provides
accidental coverage to passengers during their travel with
the Indian Railways. In case of an accident due to collision
between trains, derailing of the train carrying passengers
or any other kind of train accident, the passengers or the
nominee can claim compensation. The coverage of the
policy is on a PNR basis and includes death, permanent
total disability, permanent partial disability as well as
hospitalisation charges. This travel insurance, up to B
10 lakhs, is provided to passengers who opt for it by
paying a premium B 0.45 per passenger. During the fiscal
year, a total of 53.43 Crores passengers have opted for
Travel Insurance.

m.    Concessional Booking: The concessional booking
facility is also available for Divyang (physically challenged)
passengers for booking of online tickets on IRCTC’s
Website and Mobile Apps using ID cards provided by the
Indian Railways.

n.    Online Booking for Railway Pass Holders: Online
booking of Reserved Rail ticket, using the Railway Pass has
been implemented for Railway employees. Convenience
Fee and Travel Insurance is not applicable for these
bookings. During FY 2024-25, 38.69 lakh tickets were
booked online using Railway Pass/PTOs as compared to
33.67 lakh tickets in FY 2023-24.

o.    E-ticketing Portal for Para Military Forces: IRCTC’s
e-ticketing facility has proved to be an extremely convenient
tool for the Paramilitary Forces for handling their reserved
train e-ticket requirements. It has also eliminated the need
for cumbersome manual processes of railway warrant
management, the reconciliation and accounting between
Indian Railways and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

IRCTC has developed a dedicated website to maintain the
e-ticketing system along with the Warrant Management
System for booking of e-tickets through this portal to
travel in trains in a hassle-free manner. As a result, there is
continuous growth in ticket booking. During FY 2024-25, a
total of 12.32 lakh tickets were booked through paramilitary
forces, which is 15.36% more, as against 10.68 lakh tickets
booked in FY 2023-24.

Presently we are serving Seven Central Paramilitary
Forces, namely AR (Assam Rifles), BSF (Border Security
Force), CISF (Central Industrial Security Force), CRPF,
ITBP (Indo Tibetan Border Police), NSG (National Security
Guard) and NDRF (National Disaster Response Force).

p. Data & Cyber Security: The Company relies on state-
of-the-art technologies to ensure that the confidentiality,
integrity and availability of all its online services and its
data are adequately secured from the prevailing cyber
security threats. The Company safeguards its data with
advanced security systems and successfully defends the
system against malicious virus or other cyber threats.

IRCTC’s E-Ticketing System is a well-protected system,
equipped with industry-standard state-of-the-art security
technologies for protection from cyber threats and data
theft. This includes Network Firewalls, Network Intrusion
Prevention System and Web Application Firewalls, DDoS
Protection Services etc. The website runs on an Extended
Validation (EV) SSL/TLS Certificate that provides end-to-
end data encryptwwion between the website and its users.
Sensitive data like user passwords are stored in encrypted
form in the database. In continuous efforts to improve the
security posture of NGeT System, IRCTC has engaged CERT-
In empanelled Security Auditor for Bi-Annual Cybersecurity
Audit of Applications and ICT infrastructure.

All online payment integration, including net banking and
Credit/Debit Card are implemented on the URL-redirection
model wherein all users are redirected to concerned
banks/payment gateway websites for the on-line payment
process, fully eliminating any chance of Credit/Debit card
data leakage at the IRCTC end.

The company has deployed a number of security
solutions viz. Web Application Firewalls, Privileged Identity

Management, Secure Email Gateway and Malware
Sandboxing solutions, DDoS Protection Services (Clean
Pipe Services) etc. with the objective of enhancing its
cyber security posture for its Travel & Tourism and Catering
services. A Vulnerability Management Solution has been
deployed by IRCTC for overview of vulnerabilities in its
environment and timely remediation of same.

In order to provide secure and reliable remote access
to its enterprise applications for its workforce, a Zero-
Trust based Secure Access Solution with multi-factor
authentication capability has been implemented. The
solution will allow IRCTC workforce to safely log in to
corporate applications and desktops any-time any-where
and to access private applications/systems they need to
be efficient and productive.

Information Security Policies, including Privacy Policy, of
IRCTC are uploaded on IRCTC Corporate Portal (under
Employee Login). The web link is not available publicly.

Internet Ticketing Statistics:

a. No. of E-Tickets and Passengers Booked: A total of
5065.28 lakh tickets have been booked in 2024-25 as
compared to 4529.83 lakhs tickets in 2023-24 registering
a growth of 11.82%. In total, 8910.54 lakh passengers
booked E-Tickets in 2024-25 as compared to 8025.06
lakh passengers in 2023-24 registering a growth of 11.03%.

b. The ratio of Passenger to Ticket during the year was 1.76:1.

Tickets Vs Passengers

2024-25	12%, 5065
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2020-21	-42%, 1740
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2019-20	6%, 3019
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2018-19	15%, 2842
	Â	Â	Â	14%, 4950
2017-18	18%, 2466
	16%, 4340
2016-17	5%, 2093
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2014-15	16%, 1830
	18%, 3288
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c. E-ticketing Revenue Collection: During the year 2024-25, an amount of B 70,214.71 crores was collected as Ticket Fare from the
users as E-ticketing revenue, which is 13.73% more than the last year’s collection of H61,736.71 crores.

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2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25

e. Segment-wise Online Ticket Booking Share 2024-25

Segment Wise e-Ticket Booking %age FY 2024-25

38271 106.51	Â	Â	Â
Â	Â	Â	IRCTC Mobile App Normal User
956.00	Â	m	IRCTC Website Normal User
19%	2724.88	Â	Â
[¦ 1 ft	54%	¦	B2C Normal User
Â	Â	¦	Retailer (B2B & ICS)
Â	Â	Â	OG2G
18%	Â	Â	Â

New Initiatives taken during 2024-25

a)    New services added on IRCTC Website and Mobile App

during FY 2024-2025:

1.    Booking of DMRC QR based ticket under- ”One
India One Ticket” Initiative through IRCTC website
& Android Mobile App w.e.f - 10^th July 2024 & iOS
Mobile App w.e.f.- 31^st July 2024).

2.    Time limit for advance reservation ARP Booking
(reduced from 120 days to 60 days) in IRCTC Website
& Rail Connect Mobile App w.e.f. 01.11.2024.

3.    RBL Bank Cobrand Credit Card integrated under IRCTC
Loyalty Program on IRCTC Website w.e.f. 14.09.2024
and on IRCTC Mobile App w.e.f. 01.02.2025.

4.    IRCTC SBI Loyalty Programme has been enhanced
by integrating the SBI Rupay Premium Credit Card, on
website effective from 01.10.2024.

5.    Option of selecting Catering Service option as
Jain Meal, Veg (Diabetic) & Non Veg (Diabetic)
implemented in all the pre-paid trains on Website
w.e.f. 30.09.2024 and on Mobile App (Android & iOS)
w.e.f. 20.09.2024.

b)    New services added on Marketing during FY 2024-2025:

1.    Push Notification Services on IRCTC Website and
Mobile App: 929.74 crore push notifications for IRCTC
in-house items were sent to subscribers nationwide
using this facility. These alerts included information
about various IRCTC goods, like bus booking,
Ramayana Yatra, e-Catering, Bharat Gaurav tourist
trains, and many more.

2.    New Feature of Gen AI is integrated on AskDisha
Chatbot w.e.f. 31.12.2024. Have implemented Voice-
to-text and text-to-voice capabilities over generative
response layer to provide accessibility and enhance
the user experience in Ask Disha Chatbot.

Highlights of Internet Ticketing FY 2024-25

I. IRCTC e-ticketing platform has achieved highest
ever per minute booking record of 30,155 on
12-March-2025 at 10:01 AM.

2.    IRCTC e-ticketing platform has achieved highest booking
in a day record of 16,17,404 on 6-March-2025.

3.    Total number of tickets booked were 5065.28 Lakhs,
which is 11.82% more than last year.

4.    Total 14.63 Crore Mobile App (on Android & iOS:)
Downloads till 31^st March, 2025.

5.    Mobile Bookings: The average Mobile App bookings
during 2024-25 were 7.47 Lakh tickets per day, as
compared to 6.34 Lakh tickets in 2023-24. 53.80% of
IRCTC e-tickets have been booked through IRCTC Mobile
App during FY 2024-25.

6.    Share of Reserved Rail tickets booked online was 86.38%
in 2024-25, as compared to 82.68% of the reserved tickets
booked online in 2023-24. There has been continuous
increase in online booking share over the years.

7.    Achieved the highest-ever one-day Google Ad Manager
revenue more than H14 Lakhs on 27.10.2024.

Future Strategy:

IRCTC with its optimistic outlook has planned to bring into its
system some new projects which not only promise to promote
IRCTC Brand name but also proves the company’s expertise
and adaptability to latest innovative technologies in vogue in the
market place. At the same time, it is also anticipated to create
new businesses and thereby generate additional revenues
for the company. IRCTC is not only widening its business
arena, but also using innovative technologies in vogue, for
system improvement.

Following are some future projects to be undertaken by
Internet Ticketing:

1. Same Day Online Refund:

IRCTC has been constantly contributing to enhance the
customer experience and convenience for reserved rail
e-tickets through its Website and Rail Connect Mobile
App with the aim of retaining its customer base. IRCTC
e-ticketing system has to address the payment and
refund issues which is the main reason for the largest
number of complaints.

The earlier traditional file based method of refund were
getting initiated for refund to user on T+1 day. However,
towards improving efficiency in Refund with respect to
Delayed and Failed transactions and reducing customer
complaints, now, IRCTC has implemented its own
functionality of ”Same Day Refund Initiation API” for failed
transaction cases (where user’s Account gets debited and
ticket not booked) of online Rail e-ticket transactions to the
Users on same day of transaction.

The first step put forward in this process was laid in the
month of December’2023. Now all such transactions are
being initiated for refund on the same day. *The next

step put forward, Same day refund initiation for user
cancelled tickets and Waitlist drop tickets implemented
w.e.f. 07.08.2024, all such refund will be initiated same day
for cancelled ticket also.* The refund for the transactions
done through UPI are being refunded on the same day in
user’s account.

2.    IRCTC Unified Portal and Super App:

IRCTC is providing various travel, tourism & related
services to its customer viz. Air, Hotel, Bus, Packages,
Retiring Room, Cruise, Train Tickets, Cabs, Helicopter,
eCatering, Lounges, B2B & B2C, etc. The present services
are rendered with multiple URLs.

IRCTC aspires to revamp the legacy system into a unified
portal encompassing the existing multiple services and
adding new services along with a Super App containing
all the services as a one stop solution. The complete
revamp will be based on Mobile first approach using state
of the art technologies including generative AI, with an
objective to simplify and enhance user experience and
assist the user to plan and book an end to end travel
experience. The end to end revamp and development as
a scalable, reliable and customer-centric platform involves
creation of UI/UX, front end, middleware, and backend
IT infrastructure hosted on cloud, network and Security
infrastructure. The product/solution will be designed to
seamlessly incorporate future products or services that
IRCTC may introduce during the contract term.

The single unified application utilizing generative AI and
ML will help the customer plan and book an end-to-
end experience. This will require use of state-of-the-art
technologies as well as building of best in class/ exhaustive
inventories including but not limited to Air, Road, Rail,
Hotels, Packages, Cruises, Experiences etc.

3.    Online & Offline Passenger Ship Ticket Booking System
for Lakshadweep:

IRCTC has been awarded with the project to develop,
host and maintain online & offline Integrated Passenger
Ship ticket booking system for Lakshadweep by the
Union Territory of Lakshadweep Administration (UTLA)
for a period of 10 years. The scope includes developing
a highly scalable, agile, secure, state-of-the-art and user
centric ticketing system that will enhance the experience
for passengers, promote operational efficiency and
support the long-term transportation goals of UTLA.
Besides this, the online Cargo booking & Helicopter
booking in Lakshadweep may also be taken up by IRCTC
at a later stage.

4.    Marketing revenue is envisaged to increase multi-fold
over the next 5 years through the premiumisation of
Ad inventory using the rich data inputs of IRCTC. IRCTC
aims to transform the marketing strategy powered by AI/
ML analytics and enhanced user engagement, better

compliance with evolving data protection norms, potential
for cross-selling IRCTC products and full control over
ad operations. IRCTC envisions to become a leader
in data-driven digital advertising to deliver contextual,
personalized and compliant advertising experience.

5.    iPay:

As mentioned above , subsequent to obtaining PA
authorization from RBI, IRCTC Payments Limited will
expand its market reach in a phased approach, adapting
to evolving business requirements.

IRCTC Payments Limited, as Government-backed Payment
Aggregator, will have transformative impact on nation's
payment ecosystem which will directly contribute to further
strengthening the Digital India initiative. As India transitions
toward a cashless economy, IRCTC Payments will catalyse
financial inclusion, drive digital payment adoption, and
enhance transaction efficiency across various sectors

6.    Other Ticketing and OTA Initiatives:

i.    With its past experience in e-ticketing domain viz.
CWG Ticketing, the current Char Dham Heli Yatra
portal (Kedarnath and Hemkund Sector) as well
as ticketing services over Metro Corporations and
various upcoming projects such as RRTS Metro
Services, Lakshadweep and Andaman Ferry
Ticketing, IRCTC aspires to become an e-ticketing
giant in the travel and leisure sectors. The online
ticketing platform shall be able to provide such
services for multiple use cases on commercial basis
which may be integrated with the unified portal as per
user requirement.

ii.    IRCTC can quickly venture into event booking for self
and third parties. IRCTC can venture into ticketing for
Central and State Governments. Providing ticketing
as a service and capturing new business in event
booking shall also be explored and established.

iii.    The ticketing/ OTA vertical of IRCTC will be a new
focus to boost exponential growth.

iv.    All Government Manual Warrant systems, like those
of the state police department will be made digital
on the lines of the paramilitary portal as part of the
unified portal.

This will increase the share of internet ticketing
to more than 90% coupled with Infrastructure and
Technological Upgrades.

7.    Towards One India - One Ticket Initiative:

a) QR Based Tickets of DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation): For enhancing the convenience of the
passengers in transit while arriving or leaving Delhi,
IRCTC has already started the booking of DMRC QR
based ticket under- ”One India One Ticket” Initiative

through its website & Android Mobile App w.e.f - 10^th
July 2024 & iOS Mobile App w.e.f.- 31^st July 2024.
The project has been accepted very well amongst
the passenger fraternity.

b) Namo Bharat Train By RRTS (Regional Rapid Transit
System) In a significant step towards enhancing the
convenience and ease of travel for passengers, the
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation
(IRCTC) and the National Capital Region Transport
Corporation (NCRTC) have entered into a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to introduce
QR code-based ticketing for NCRTC services through
the IRCTC portal.

Under this partnership, passengers shall be able to book
online tickets for NCRTC journey through the IRCTC
platform will have the added convenience of seamlessly
booking NCRTC QR code-based tickets. These QR
tickets can be issued in sync with the 60 days Advance
Reservation Period of Indian Railways. By integrating these
services, passengers can effortlessly plan their entire
journey in one go. The NCRTC QR code-based ticket will
be seamlessly generated and printed on the Electronic
Reservation Slip (ERS). This integration aims to streamline
travel experiences, eliminating the need for passengers to
endure long queues and saving valuable time.

8.    Flutter:

Flutter is a development tool used for building beautiful,
natively compiled applications for Android, iOS & Website
from a single code. It's known for its cross-platform
capabilities, allowing developers to create native-like
applications on various platforms with lesser effort and
time keeping all platforms in sync. This will help to maintain
the native IRCTC Apps (for iOS and Android devices) in a
single flutter code for both platforms. It will also reduce the
additional manpower requirement for iOS.

9.    Co-Branded Credit Card cum Loyalty Program:

IRCTC had introduced its Loyalty program in collaboration
with the leading Credit Card issuers in India, whereby
frequent travellers earn travel reward points at the time of
booking rail tickets at IRCTC portal using the card issued
by the card issuer. These points may be used to book
tickets later.

This card, referred to as a Co-Branded Credit Card, was
first introduced in February 2006 in collaboration with SBI
Cards and has been IRCTC’s flagship Co-Branded Credit
Card under the ambit of its Loyalty Program. Over the years,
IRCTC’s Cobranded loyalty program has expanded to offer
cobranded Credit Cards on VISA and RuPay platforms in
collaboration with 3 other banks viz., BOBCARD, HDFC
Bank and RBL Bank. The success of these collaborations
has not only expanded the scope of IRCTC’s Loyalty
Program, but has also contributed greatly towards
expanding the outreach of RuPay payment platform among
IRCTC’s users, especially among frequent travelers. These
collaborations have generated a revenue of H39.54 Crores
in Financial Year 2023-24 and H44.48 Crores in Financial
Year 2024-25, registering a growth of 12.5%.

IRCTC is exploring the possibility of collaboration with
new Banks/Co-brand partners for launch of Co-Branded
Credit Cards under the Loyalty Program, in addition to the
existing cards.

PACKAGED DRINKING WATER (RAIL NEER)

Rail Neer, the flagship packaged drinking water brand of IRCTC,
has continued to play a pivotal role in ensuring access to safe
and hygienic drinking water for millions of rail passengers across
India. With 20 operational plants and an installed capacity of
18.40 lakh litres per day, Rail Neer maintains a robust presence
at over 410 railway stations nationwide.

During FY 2024-25, production peaked at 46.46 crore
bottles, marking the highest volume achieved to date. This
remarkable scale reinforces Rail Neer’s commitment to
operational excellence and quality assurance. A new Rail
Neer plant at Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, with a production
capacity of 72,000 bottles per day was also commissioned
furing FY 2025,which commenced commercial production in
October , 2024.

 

As on 31^st March, 2025, IRCTC has 20 operational Rail Neer
plants located at Nangloi, Danapur, Palur, Ambernath, Amethi,
Parassala, Bilaspur, Sanand, Hapur, Mandideep, Nagpur,
Jagiroad, Maneri, Sankrail, Una, Bhusawal, Kota, Simhadri,
Bhubaneswar and Vijaywada.

Performance of Rail Neer plants during FY 2024-25 as
compared with FY 2023-24 is tabled hereunder:

 

Financial	Production	Turnover	Plant
Year	(bottles in Crore)	(J in crore)	Utilisation (%)
2024-25	46.46	378.58	79.23
2023-24	39.45	326.66	74.00

Ultra filtration - Colloidal, suspended particles and pyrogenic
species are filtered out through Ultra Filtration membranes.

3. Reverse osmosis - All dissolved impurities are removed.
Anti scaling agent not used. (All competitors use it to
enhances membrane life)

 

5. Two-stage micron filtration - Impurities with size more
than 0.2 micron are filtered out.

 

Technology Upgradation:

The design of preform & cap of Rail Neer bottle has been
changed to reduce the weight of packaging material in 2014 and
neck size of 27 Alaska was introduced by replacing 30/25 mm
neck and this design is successful. This has resulted into saving
of 2 gm weight in each preform and 0.5 gm saving in each cap.

Advanced Manufacturing Process:

Rail Neer’s manufacturing infrastructure is designed to ensure
maximum hygiene, precision, and efficiency:

Water Purification:

Water is drawn from borewells/Dam/Pipeline Water from state
Government and undergoes an eight-stage purification
process, which includes:

1. Activated carbon filtration Stage 1 & 2 - Stage 1
removes dust, dead microbes, odour/colour and stage 2
is for removing pesticides.

 

4. Marble chip/ Calcite filtration - To boost ”pH” - Exclusive
process adopted by Rail Neer.

 

2. Auto Softening - Hardness of water is removed by ion
exchange process.

 

6. UV sterilization - UV-light causes change in the genetic
material of micro organisms and thus prevents them
from reproducing.

Rinsing, Filling, and Capping:

Bottles are air-conveyed to automatic RFC (Rinsing, Filling &
Capping) machine. Bottles are rinsed using high-pressure jets,
filled using precision nozzles, and capped in a controlled 20°C
environment-ensuring superior product integrity.

7. Ozonation- Water comes in contact with ozone gas for
final disinfection from the micro organisms. The nascent
oxygen is powerful oxidizing agent and kills the microbes.

 

This system ensures removal of physical, chemical, and
biological contaminants, delivering water that meets the
highest safety standards.

Bottle Manufacturing:

High-grade PET preforms are converted into bottles using
fully automatic blowing machines. This minimizes manual
intervention, ensuring consistent bottle quality and hygiene.

 

Outlook and Growth Strategy:

IRCTC’s current production capacity is around 17.68 lakh litres/
day, spread over nineteen working plants. With the likely
commissioning of one more plant at Mallavalli near Vijayawada
(Andhra Pradesh) July,2024, capacity will be enhanced to
approx. 18.40 lakh litres/day.

Facility for production of 500 ml Rail Neer Packaged Drinking
Water is being developed in 18 Rail Neer Plants. The 500 ml
bottles are being supplied in Shatabdi and Vande Bharat trains.
Also, this will be sold on Railway Station premises.

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

During FY 2024-25, IRCTC reaffirmed its commitment to
fostering a transparent, responsive, and employee-centric
work environment by advancing digital transformation
across its Human Resource functions. The year marked
a strategic shift towards automation of processes and
streamlining of HR policies, with a focus on enhancing
employee convenience, improving organizational efficiency,
and strengthening governance standards.

Several online modules were developed and implemented to
digitize critical HR processes, including modules for medical
card issuance, employee grievance redressal, passport
NOC requests, and D&AR clearances. Additionally, the “Talk
to Management” initiative was redeveloped with improved
functionality to foster open and direct communication
between employees and senior leadership. The Performance
Management System (PMS) was also extended to E7 and E8
level officers through an online platform, enabling performance
tracking aligned with institutional goals.

These initiatives not only improved service delivery and reduced
processing time but also empowered employees by offering
greater transparency and ease of access to HR services. The

 

Company’s continued focus on welfare schemes, employee
engagement, and social security has reinforced its position as
a progressive public sector enterprise committed to the holistic
well-being of its workforce.

As on 31^st March, 2025, the Company had a total manpower
strength of 2794 personnel with the following details:

Category	No. of Employees
Regular Employees	1338
Deputation	55
On contract	387
Out-sourced	901#
Consultant/Advisor/Re-employed	113
Total	2794

#Engaged through Manpower Service Provider Agency for providing
support services.

The percentage of women employees, SC/ST/OBC employees,
person with disabilities and ex-servicemen out of regular
employees of the Company is mentioned below:

Category	No. of Employees	% of total no. of regular employees (1338)
Women Employees	115	8.59
SC Personnel	256	19.13
ST Personnel	72	5.38
Other Backward classes	339	25.33
Person with Disabilities	13	0.1

Employee Welfare and Digital HR Transformation

At IRCTC, our human capital continues to be our greatest
asset. With ongoing emphasis on employee engagement,
health, safety, upskilling, and well-being, the Human Resource
Department has made great strides towards creating a
vibrant, inclusive, and caring environment of work. Building
upon the framework of employee welfare of past years, some
digital and welfare-centric initiatives were initiated this year,
signaling a movement towards an integrated, transparent, and
technologically driven HR ecosystem.

During the year under review, the Company sustained its
strategic drive toward digital transformation by progressively
replacing manual systems with electronic solutions. These
efforts were aligned with the overarching objective of enhancing
operational efficiency, transparency, and employee enablement.
A number of in-house developed software applications were
successfully designed, tested, and implemented across key
functional domains, contributing significantly to administrative
simplification and governance improvement.

New Initiatives Rolled Out during FY 2024-25

1. Digital Transformation of HR Services:

• Medical Card Issuance (HRMS Module): IRCTC
implemented an end-to-end digital Medical Card
Issuance system through the HRMS portal (https://

ess.irctc.com). The module enables employees to
apply for fresh medical cards, renew, and modify card
details in the case of transfers or promotions. The
online process has eliminated paperwork, reduced
processing time, and ensures that employees and
their families continue receiving uninterrupted
medical services irrespective of location or
designation changes.

•    Online Employee Grievance Redressal: To

streamline grievance redressal and make it more
employee-centric, IRCTC introduced an online
grievance redressal platform. This module allows
for centralized grievance registration, tracking,
and solution. Through a transparent process, now
employees can keep track of their progress, get
responses on time, and escalate unresolved cases
through an integrated and accountable process.

•    Re-launch of Passport NOC Module Post Technical
Enhancements: Following initial user feedback and
identification of technical issues, the Passport NOC
module was upgraded and successfully re-launched.
Enhancements included:

•    Improved user experience and bug resolution.

•    Integration with employee profiles for faster
data retrieval.

•    Conducting internal training sessions for HR
users across zones to ensure smooth adoption.

•    D&AR Clearance Module: An online D&AR
(Discipline and Appeal Rules) clearance module was
implemented to provide for timely and traceable
clearance of passport-related cases, foreign travel,
outside employment, and other official demands. The
system electronically channels requests to related
departments for verification, keeping records in
secure and traceable form, with a marked reduction
in turnaround times and administrative labor.

•    Talk to Management Portal: The “Talk to
Management” interface was enhanced to provide
a more formalized and interactive platform for
employees to put forward recommendations, ideas,
and comments in direct communication with top
management. As opposed to the grievance redressal
system, this module is designed to encourage
a culture of communication and involvement,
wherein employees are able to contribute towards
organizational growth. The module also features a
tracking tool to track the status of their submissions.

•    APAR for E7 & E8 Grades: To automate and harmonize
the performance appraisal process, an in-house new
APAR (Annual Performance Appraisal Report) module
was created for E7 and E8 grade officers. The module

spans the complete appraisal process right from self¬
appraisal to review and final submission-all through
an online secure and effective workflow. This has
improved timeliness, transparency, and precision in
the performance review process.

•    Marriage Gift Claim Module: The procedure for
claiming marriage gifts was computerized to simplify
and speed up the disbursal of benefits. Employees
are now able to apply online for the benefit with
the system automatically checking eligibility and
settling the claim. This has cut paperwork by leaps
and bounds, infused transparency, and speeded up
approvals with ease while keeping correct digital
records for audit and reference purposes.

•    Expansion of HRMS Features: There were
constant enhancements to the HRMS portal for
increasing its usefulness and ease of use. Several
features for leave management, transfer application,
employee data updates, and circulars regarding
company policies were combined into a single
interface. These enhancements have contributed
to the portal becoming a one-stop solution for the
majority of the needs of HR, minimizing reliance on
manual interventions and fostering a digital self¬
service culture.

2. Health, Safety, and Social Security Measures:

IRCTC has been providing free consultation services to
the employees of Corporate Offic and North Zone by
empaneling General Physician, Gynecologist & AYUSH
physicians. Carrying forward the efforts of FY 2023-24,
empanelment of in-house doctors continued to extend
accessible primary healthcare to the employees.

Expansion of coverage under the Group Life Insurance
Scheme, IRCTC has extended the coverage with monetary
limit of 70 months basic pay plus dearness allowance for
all employees of IRCTC, ensuring financial protection in
the event of natural or accidental death.

Grant of Ex-gratia amount of H25,000/- to dependent
family members of the deceased employees as funeral
expenses, Compassionate ground appointments to the
next of kin of deceased employee, and continuation
of the Post-Retirement Medical Scheme for the retired
employees demonstrate IRCTC’s social security focus for
active as well as retired employees.

Medical Health Check-up of Spouse of the Employee: As
a welfare measure for its employees, IRCTC has recently
started the facility for Optional Preventive Medical Health
Check-up of Spouse of the employees who has crossed a
certain age (45 years in case of males and 40 years in case
of females). This scheme will be helpful for the spouse of

the employees to get their regular preventive health check¬
ups and medical treatments. Further, extending this facility
to the dependent determines the IRCTC’s investment in
the creation of healthy workforce; and it can be seen as an
investment in the well-being and protection of employees
& their family, which will result in improved performance,
productivity, and loyalty.

3.    Apprenticeship Engagement

Consistent with the Ministry of Skill Development &
Entrepreneurship, 73 apprentices were engaged during
FY 2023-24 (4.07% of total strength). The program
extends to FY 2024-25 with more emphasis on industry-
ready skill building, where 97 apprentices were engaged
which is approximately 5.12% of the total employee
strength against the minimum engagement of 2.5% as per
the Government guidelines.

4.    Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS):

IRCTC successfully implemented the first phase of the
Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS), an initiative by
the Ministry of Corporate Affairs aimed at enhancing youth
employability by providing practical exposure in a Corporate
environment. Out of approximately 1000 applications
received for 500 internship positions, 117 candidates were
shortlisted across key functional areas such as Tourism, IT,
HR, Finance, Legal, and Catering. However, 33 candidates
joined on internship under this scheme in IRCTC. The
scheme not only enabled young individuals to gain
valuable hands-on experience but also helped IRCTC tap
into fresh talent and innovative perspectives.

Following the encouraging response and outcomes of the
initial phase, IRCTC launched the second phase of PMIS in
2025, targeting the engagement of 467 interns across its
six regional zones and corporate office. IRCTC also decided
to pay a stipend of H5000/- per month additional to the
monetary remuneration in the form of stipend being paid
the Ministry of Corporate Affairs under the PMIS scheme.
The continued execution of this scheme reflects IRCTC’s
strong commitment to supporting the national agenda of
skill development and preparing a future-ready workforce
through structured, real-world learning opportunities.

Steps and Initiatives taken by IRCTC for Health & Safety
Improvements of Human Resources in CPSEs:

IRCTC recognizes that the health and safety of its
employees are of paramount importance. In alignment
with the Government of India’s mandate and the directives
issued by the Railway Board, IRCTC has proactively taken
several steps to improve the well-being of its workforce.
The organization regularly conducts training sessions,
workshops, and webinars on various health and safety-
related topics to enhance awareness and promote a
culture of health consciousness among employees.

The following key initiatives were undertaken during FY 2024-25:-

S. No.	Activities	Period/Date	Attended by
1.	Physical Wellness Session on “Blood Cancer Awareness” by Dr. Akash Khandelwal (Hematologist) from Action Cancer Hospital in association with Dr. Reddy’s Foundation- on Blood Cancer Awareness Month.	21.05.2024	30+ IRCTC employees attended physically & 100+ IRCTC employees attended through online mode on PAN India.
2.	Health talk by Dr. Alka Bhasin (Nephrology) from Max Smart Hospital, Saket, New Delhi on “World Kidney Cancer Day”.	20.06.2024	40+ IRCTC employees attended physically & 100+ IRCTC employees attended through online mode on PAN India.
3.	On the occasion of ‘International Yoga Day’- a Yoga session at the Railway Club, State Entry road, New Delhi was arranged for a healthy lifestyle. Similar yoga sessions were mirrored in zonal and regional offices including Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Secunderabad and Chandigarh	Yoga sessions were conducted by certified yoga instructors and were designed to cater to individuals of all ages and fitness levels on 20 & 21.06.2024	200+ IRCTC employees and their family members participated in a rejuvenating morning yoga session at Delhi & 241+ at other locations
4.	Cancer Awareness Camp-“ Cancer Prevention, Early Detection & Management by MGM Cancer Institute	23.07.2024	For all employee of IRCTC/SZ
5.	Eye Checkup Medical Camp by M/s Medplus Opticians	10.08.2024	For all employee of IRCTC/SCZ
6.	Organized General Health Checkup Camp (Eye, ECG, BMD & Dental) - Nanavati Max Super Specialty Hospital, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai	14.08.2024	IRCTC Employees of IRCTC/WZ
7.	Preventive Medical Health Checkup Camp in association with M/s Max Healthcare Pvt Ltd.	27.08.2024    & 28.08.2024	All employees of IRCTC/CO at New Delhi
8.	Health Checkup and Healing Camp (Ayurvedic)-UP-Turn Health Care	06.09.2024    & 07.09.2024	49 IRCTC Employees of IRCTC/ WZ
9.	Organized General Preventive Health Check-up Camp for IRCTC Employees at RO/ADI by Narayana Health Hospital, Ahmedabad.	24.10.2024    & 25.10.2024	IRCTC Employees at RO/ADI.
10.	Eye Checkup Camp by Eye Surgeon - Metro Eye Hospital	07.01.2025	IRCTC Employees at ZO/WZ
11.	TB Awareness Camp by Dr Nitin Mahajan, Dist. TB Officer/Byculla	28.01.2025	IRCTC Employees at ZO/WZ
12.	Eye Checkup Camp by Eye Surgeon - Metro Eye Hospital at D Car/MMCT	29.01.2025	All IRCTC Employees at IRCTC/ WZ
13.	Organized a Free Preventive Health Check-up Camp/Cancer Screening Camp at IRCTC premises in collaboration with Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute & Action Cancer Hospital.	04.02.2025	All employees of IRCTC
14.	TB Awareness Camp by ESIC at RNP/Palur	06.02.2025	All IRCTC Employees at RNP/ Palur
15.	First Aid Training by Apollo Multi Specialty Hospital, Chennai	08.02.2025	All IRCTC Employees at IRCTC/ SZ
16.	Organized a Medical Health Checkup Camp under the directive of the ‘Swachhata Hi Sewa’ Campaign particularly for the Housekeeping Staff of IRCTC.	20.02.2025    & 21.02.2025	For 89 Housekeeping Staff deployed at Various Locations across India
17.	Health Talk on Ortho Spine & Ophthalmology was organized in collaboration with Max Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. at Corporate Office, New Delhi. The session focused on: Spine Health, Workplace Ergonomics, Computer Vision Syndrome. The talk was conducted by specialist doctors from Max Healthcare Pvt. Ltd.	07.03.2025	All employees of IRCTC
18.	TB Awareness Camp by Bruhath Bangalore Mahanagara Palike at RO/SBC	07.03.2025	All IRCTC Employees at RO/ SBC

S. No.	Activities	Period/Date	Attended by
19.	World Glaucoma Week (09 to 15 March 2025): To observe World Glaucoma Week, IRCTC in collaboration with Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital organized a Free Eye Screening Camp for the employees.	11.03.2025	All employees of IRCTC
20.	Wellness Session by Dr. Reddy’s Foundation on “Oral Hygiene”	13.03.2025	All Employees of IRCTC/SCZ
21.	World Tuberculosis Day (24.03.2025): On this occasion, IRCTC approached the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) for support under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP). IEC materials were provided by the RNTCP team to intensify awareness on the “TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan”, which were subsequently distributed among IRCTC employees.	24.03.2025	All employees of IRCTC
22.	Arrangement of Homeopathic Doctor by IRCTC at Corporate Office for general health check-up & wellness of staff & providing Homeopathic medicine.	Through-out the year	Corporate Office & allied IRCTC Offices at Delhi.
23.	Arrangement of Doctor (General Physician) from Sita Ram Bhartiya Institute of Science & Research. for general health check-up & wellness of staff	Through-out the year	Corporate Office & allied IRCTC Offices at Delhi.

The above table refelects the complaince of Health and Safety parameter prescribed by Ministry of Railways for the
purpose of MOU 2024-25.

Particulars of Employees:

The provisions of Section 134(3)(e) of the Act are not
applicable to a Government Company. Consequently,
details on Company’s policy on Directors’ appointment
and other matters as required under Section 178 (3) of the
Act, are not provided.

Similarly, Section 197 of the Act is also exempt for a
Government Company. Consequently, there is no
requirement of disclosure regarding the statement
showing the names and other particulars of every
employee of the Company, who if employed throughout
/ part of the financial year, was in receipt of remuneration
in excess of the limits set out in the rules are not provided
in terms of Section 197 (12) of the Act read with Rule 5 (1) /
(2) of the Companies (Appointment and Remuneration of
Managerial Personnel) Rules, 2014.

Industrial Relations:

Harmonious Industrial Relations were maintained in your
Company throughout the year. Man-days loss due to internal
industrial action was reported as ‘NIL’ for FY ‘25.

Use of Information Technology/ERP

Information Technology remains a critical enabler
across departments, fostering real-time communication,
efficiency, and digital innovation. Several IT-led initiatives
were undertaken during the year to support both internal
stakeholders and external engagement:

>    Al-Powered Surveillance Infrastructure: Around

1,500 CCTV cameras integrated with AI-based
analytics were deployed across locations
for real-time    monitoring and enhanced

situational awareness.

>    Strengthening    of Cybersecurity Measures:

Following the transition to the World Trade Centre
(WTC) premises, the IT team collaborated with
the National Critical Information Infrastructure
Protection Centre (NCIIPC) to bolster network
security, improve threat response, and reinforce
infrastructure resilience.

>    Modernization    of Monitoring Facilities: A

state-of-the-art War Room was developed
as a centralized control center for real-time
monitoring via advanced CCTV systems.
In parallel, a hi-tech Board Room was
commissioned with advanced conferencing
technologies to facilitate high-level internal and
inter-agency meetings.

>    ERP and Government Portal Integration: The
Company successfully integrated its ERP
system with the Government e-Marketplace
(GeM), ensuring seamless and transparent
procurement processes. Additionally, IRCTC
commenced operations on the TReDS portal,
aligning with government guidelines for timely
vendor payments, particularly to MSMEs.

>    Third-Party System Integration: External
applications such as CSIM and Air Ticketing
systems were integrated with the ERP,
delivering comprehensive and end-to-end
service capabilities.

>    Financial Reconciliation Efforts: The IT and
finance teams worked in close coordination
to streamline financial reconciliation activities,
enhancing data accuracy and reporting integrity.

>    Successfully implemented Fixed Asset module
in the company.

These developments underscore IRCTC’s ongoing
commitment to harnessing digital technologies for
improved service delivery, employee empowerment,
process transparency, and robust information
security-contributing meaningfully to the Company’s
digital-first vision.

VIGILANCE

The vigilance wing in IRCTC is a key department acting as
direct link between CVC, Railway Board Vigilance and the
Organization. It has been entrusted with the responsibilities
of mandate to carry on various surprise checks and scrutinize
records/documents of various other departments from time
to time for detection of any, malpractices, corruption and
unwarranted/unlawful business conduct in the organization.
It coordinates with IRCTC management and Railway Board
Vigilance in dealing with matters of vigilance administration,
policy and disciplinary proceedings against erring officials.
IRCTC vigilance wing is headed by a full time CVO assisted by
Deputy CVO & PS to CVO, 2 Vigilance Officer, and 4 Vigilance
Inspectors in Corporate office. Further there are 5 Vigilance
Officers, one in each zone for handling vigilance related matters
in the Zonal office & field units. CVO being the extended arm
of CVC is deeply engaged in furthering culture of transparency,
fair procedures, good business conduct and raising vigilance
awareness in the organization. The focus area of vigilance
department is to promote work culture of intelligence gathering,
monitoring and surveillance. Efforts are being made to
undertake pro-active preventive Vigilance measures. This is to
ensure fair systems and procedures in place thereby increasing
transparency and reducing scope for discretion.

During the period 2024-25, the vigilance department
investigated in detail 28 complaints and 32 complaints having
no Vigilance angle were forwarded to concerned department
for necessary action. Total 29 preventive/surprise checks were
conducted in catering and e ticketing sector. The malpractices
and incidents of corruption so detected were communicated
to the concerned department for stringent action against the
licensees and erring employees. The resultant fine recovered
was to the tune of H 14,29,449/-. As a mandate of CVC, CMD
undertook periodical review of activities and performance of
vigilance department with CVO.

As per the directives of Central Vigilance Commission (CVC)
“Vigilance Awareness Week” was observed at IRCTC from
28^th October to 3^rd November 2024 with the theme, ‘•¦hcIZbi
g aif Hit g'Cg, Culture of Integrity for Nation's
Prosperity” and all employees took “Integrity Pledge”. Various
programs, competitions, and seminars were conducted in all
the offices of the IRCTC with the view to create awareness
about preventive measures. Additionally, the "TEJASathon”
initiative was replicated this year, featuring interactive sessions
with passengers aimed at enhancing public awareness. It was
observed to encourage all stakeholders, employees, associated
vendors and citizens to collectively participate, fight against
corruption and to raise public awareness regarding existence,
causes, gravity and the threat posed by corruption.

Integrity Pact:

IRCTC has implemented the integrity pact programme in line
with the recommendations of the Central Vigilance Commission
with an objective to ensure that all activities and transactions
between a Company or Government departments and their
Suppliers are handled in a fair, transparent and corruption-
free manner. The adoption of the Integrity Pact by IRCTC
has helped in establishing healthy business practices. To
ensure transparency and healthy competitiveness in public
procurements/ contracts, IRCTC has adopted the Integrity Pact.
Two(02) Independent External monitors are appointed in IRCTC
with the approval of the CVC. Currently, Shri Apurva Varma, IAS
(Red.) and Shri Bharat Prasad Singh. IFoS (Red.) are IEMs for
Integrity Pact in IRCTC. A coordinator has also been appointed
for Integrity Pact for monitoring and implementation of Integrity
Pact. Integrity Pact now being used in all the tenders which are
beyond the identified threshold values.

Establishment of Vigil Mechanism:

Disclosure regarding establishment of vigil mechanism
is included under the Corporate Governance Report
at Annexure-"B".

Your Company has established Whistle Blower Policy/ Vigil
Mechanism to report genuine concerns about ethical behaviour,
actual or suspected fraud, violation of Code of conduct and also
instances of leak of unpublished price sensitive information.
The said vigil mechanism provides for adequate safeguards
against victimization of persons who use the mechanism and

has provision for direct access to the Chairperson of the Audit
Committee in appropriate or exceptional cases.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

The Company has been consistently engaged in a broad
spectrum of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives,
addressing various dimensions of social welfare and upliftment
across the country. The key focus areas identified under its
CSR framework include, inter alia, healthcare and sanitation,
education, and the empowerment of women and socially/
economically disadvantaged communities.

During the year, the Company fully utilized its allocated CSR
budget of H24.90 crore towards a range of approved activities. A
comprehensive report detailing the Company’s CSR initiatives,
in line with the provisions of the Companies Act, along with
the key highlights for the year, is annexed as Annexure “C”
to this report.

The composition of the CSR Committee is provided in the
Corporate Governance Report. The CSR policy of the Company
can be accessed at the website of the Company on the web link
https://www.irctc.com/assets/images/CSR-Vision-Document.pdf

COMPLIANCES

• Right to Information Act:

A well-defined mechanism is in place to deal with RTI
applications received under the Right to Information Act
2005. Senior level officers have been designated as
‘Central Public Information Officers’ (CPIOs) with GGM
level officer as First Appellate Authority.

As required under the RTI Act, detailed information is
hosted and regularly updated on the official website of the
Company, i.e., https://www.irctc.com/rti.html which inter-alia
includes details of CPIOs / APIOs/Appellate Authorities,
third party audited reports on mandatory disclosures, etc.

The Company has aligned with the online RTI portal
launched by DoPT, Govt. of India, and all the applications/
appeals received through the portal are disposed off
through the portal only. The Quarterly Reports / Annual
Reports are submitted, within the prescribed timeline, on
the website of the Central Information Commission, i.e.,
www.cic.gov.in.

During 2024-25, a total of 2890 RTI Applications and 213
RTI Appeals under the RTI Act, 2005 were received and all
the applications were dealt/disposed-off in a timely manner.

Detail of RTI Applications and Appeals is as below.
Particulars	Opening Balance as on 01.04.2024	No. of Applications received as transfer from other PAs u/s 6 (3)	Received during the year	No. of cases transferred to other PAs u/s 6(3)	Decision where requests /appeals rejected	Decision where requests /appeals replied	Closing as on 31.03.2025
Requests	107	0	2890	867	14	2023	93
Appeals	22	0	213	0	0	195	40

Assistant Manager/Rail Neer has been nominated as the
Official Language Officer.

Retired Senior Official Language Officers/Official Language
Officers from the Official Language Department of
Central Government Offices/Undertakings/Public Bodies/
Departments in all the Zonal Offices of IRCTC has been
appointed as Consultant/Official Language. Consultant/
Official Language has been deployed in 05 zonal offices
of IRCTC. Apart from this, in all zonal and regional offices
Senior officers/employees of other departments have
been designated as Official Language Officers and Official
Language Assistants.

In compliance with the orders of Home Ministry , Official
Language Department and Railway Board, libraries have
been established in all the zonal and regional offices
including the corporate office of IRCTC. Various types
of interesting and informative Hindi books are available
in these libraries . These include novels , short story
collections , poetry collections and many books on various
contemporary topics by reputed and well-known writers
and authors of Hindi literature.

Hindi Pakhwada:

In Corporate Office, Official Language Pakhwada from 09
September, 2024 to 23 September, 2024 was organized.
During this time the Hindi Day message of Railway Minister
and Chairman and Management Director were circulated to
All offices including the corporate Zonal and Subordinates
Offices. Official Language Fortnight was also organised in
the subordinate offices of the Corporation office.

During this period, several competitions were organized
to remove the hesitation of working in Hindi. Employees
participated with great enthusiasm in these competitions.
Some pictures of the competitions are given below: -

In addition to this, Dictation competition and on the
last day of the fortnight, on 23.09.2024 , a Hindi-Quiz
competition was organized, in which the participation
of employees was encouraging. In total, more than 200
employees participated in these competitions, out of
which 40 employees were honoured with certificates and
cash prizes by the Chairman and Managing Director on the
basis of their excellent performance on 15 October 2024.
Earlier, the Chairman and Managing Director congratulated
all the award winning employees and encouraged other
employees to perform even better in the future.

Inspection by Parliamentary Committee on Official
Language:

During 2024-25 , the second sub-committee of the
Parliamentary Official Language Committee inspected the
Regional Office , Bhubaneswar on 24.10.2024, Guwahati
on 20.11.2024 , Ernakulam on 10.01.2025 and Chandigarh
office on 28.02.2025. The Committee expressed
satisfaction over the progress of official language in IRCTC
and praised the work done in official language. Chandigarh
office of IRCTC was awarded 'Good' by the Parliamentary
Official Language Committee for the progress of use
and dissemination of official language and excellent
coordination. Certificates were also provided.

Pictures related to the inspection of the Parliamentary
Committee are given below:-

• Disclosure Requirement under Sexual Harassment of
Women at Work Place Act (Prevention, Prohibition and
Redressal Act) 2013:

The provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women at
Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act,
2013 and the rules thereon are being strictly complied
with. The Company is committed to the prevention of
sexual harassment of women at workplace and takes
prompt action in the event of reporting of such incidents.

IRCTC has also in place a “Policy on Prevention, Prohibition
and Redressal of Sexual Harassment of Women at
workplace”, duly approved by the Board of Directors.

In accordance with the Act, to provide protection against
sexual harassment of women at workplace and to maintain
their safety, IRCTC has nominated the Internal Complaints
Committee(s) with the composition as required under
the Act, at the Corporate Office as well as Zonal offices
of the company.

The detail of complaints, received, disposed off and
pending during the year 2024-25 is reproduced below:

Status as on 1st April 2024	Received during the year	Disposed off during the year	Cases pending as on 31st March 2025
1 (One)	1 (One)	1 (One)	1 (One)*

The complaint is being examined and is not pending for more than 90 days

• Procurement from Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs):

In line with the Public Procurement Policy of the Government
of India, as amended, the Company is required to procure
minimum 25% of the total procurement of Goods and
Services from MSEs, out of which 4% is earmarked for
procurement from MSEs owned by SC / ST entrepreneurs
and 3% from MSEs owned by women. The procurement
from MSEs during FY 2024-25 was as under:

Parameters	Targets	Actual
Total Procurement from MSEs (General, Reserved SC/ST & Women)	25%	39 %
Procurement from owned	4% (Sub-	4.05 %
SC/ST MSEs	target out of 25%)	Â
Procurement from	3% (Sub-	7.40 %
Women owned MSEs	target out of 25%)	Â

Several initiatives were undertaken to identify the
entrepreneurs for procurement of goods and services
from MSEs owned by SC / ST enterprises and
women owned MSEs.

There are no Micro and Small Enterprises, to whom the
Company owes dues, which are outstanding for more
than 45 days as on 31^st March 2025. The same has been
uploaded on the DPE MOU dashboard.

•    Facilitation for payment of invoices
through TReDS Portal:

In exercise of powers conferred by Section 9 of the Micro,
Small and Medium Enterprise Development Act, 2006
(27 of 2006), the Central Government issued instructions
that all CPSEs shall be required to get themselves on
boarded on the Trade Receivables Discounting System
(TReDS) platform, set up as per the notification of the
Reserve Bank of India.

In compliance with the above instructions, as on 31^st
March, 2025, your Company was on-boarded on all the
existing TreDS platforms, viz, Receivables Exchange of
India Limited (RXIL), C2Treds, Invoicemart and M1xchange
to facilitate financing of trade receivables of MSEs by
discounting of their receivables and realisation of their
payment before the due date.

Further, as mandated vide DPE’s OM dated 22^nd July,
2024, the Company integrated its ERP system with GeM
portal during FY 2024-25.

•    Mandatory use of GeM for procurement:

During the year, GeM portal was extensively used for
procurement of capital goods, consumables as well as
services across zones & regions. During FY 2024-25
IRCTC’s total procurement through GeM was as under.

Financial Year	Total Procurement (In J cr)	Procurement through GeM (In ?cr)	Procurement through GeM (In %)
Â
2024-25 2023-24	219.38 213.19	135.67 122.06	61.84% 57.25%

COMPLIANCES UNDER THE COMPANIES ACT
2013 / SEBI (LODR) REGULATIONS 2015

• Annual Return:

As required under the provisions of the Companies Act,
2013, the Annual Return is hosted on the Company's
website and can be accessed from the link https://irctc.
com/Annual%20Return.html

•    Deposits:

The Company has not accepted or invited any deposits
from the public under Chapter V of the Companies Act,
2013 read with Companies (Acceptance of Deposit)
Rules, 2014 during the year under review. Therefore, the
information required to be reported under Rule 8 (5) (v) of
Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 is NIL.

Further, as provided in Secretarial Standards, information
regarding details of National Company Law Tribunal
(NCLT)/National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT)
orders with respect to depositors for extension of time for
repayment, penalty imposed, if any is also NIL.

•    Particulars of loans & guarantees given, investments
made and securities provided:

During the year, the Company has not provided any loan or
provided any guarantee under section 186 of Companies
Act, 2013 read with Companies (Meetings of Board and
its Powers) Rules, 2014. However, the Company has made
an additional equity contribution of H10,00,00,000 (Rupees
Ten Crores Only) in IRCTC Payments Limited, its wholly
owned subsidiary, by subscribing 1,00,00,000 equity
shares of H10/- each. These shares rank pari-passu with
the existing equity shares of the subsidiary and have been
issued on a rights issue basis.

The details of investments made by the Company in IRCTC
Payments Limited during the FY 2024-25 forms part of the
notes to the financial statements, which are provided in
the Annual Report.

•    Contracts and arrangements with related parties:

During the Financial Year, the Company has not entered
into any material transaction with any of its related
parties, which have potential conflict with the interest of
the Company at large. All the contracts / arrangements /
transactions entered into with related parties were in the
ordinary course of business and on arm’s length basis.
Accordingly, the disclosure of Related Party Transactions
as required under Section 134(3)(h) of the Companies Act,
2013 read with Section 188 of the Act and Rule 8(2) of
the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 in Form AOC-2 is
annexed to the report as “Annexure-G”.

In accordance with the requirements prescribed under
Companies Act, 2013, SEBI (LODR) Regulation, 2015 and
Accounting Standard -24 on Related Party disclosures, the
details of transactions with related parties are disclosed
in the Notes to Financial Statements for the year ended
31^st March 2025.

•    Internal Financial Control System:

Your Company has established adequate Internal Financial
Controls by laying down policies and procedures to ensure
the efficient conduct of its business, safeguarding of its assets,
prevention and detection of frauds and errors, accuracy
and completeness of the accounting records, and timely
preparation of reliable financial information commensurate
with the operations of the Company. The effectiveness
of these Internal Financial Controls is ensured through
management reviews, self-assessment and independent
testing by the Internal Auditor. These assessments indicates
that your Company has adequate Internal Financial Controls
over Financial Reporting in compliance with the provisions of
the Companies Act, 2013 and such Internal Financial Controls
are operating effectively. The Audit Committee reviews the
Internal Financial Controls to ensure its effectiveness for
achieving the intended purpose. Independent Auditors
Report on the Internal Financial Controls of the Company
in terms of Clause (i) of Sub-Section 3 of Section 143 of the
Companies Act, 2013 by the Statutory Auditors is placed
along with the Financial Statements.

M/s G. Deep & Co., Chartered Accountants were engaged
for certification of Internal Financial Control (IFC) for FY
2024-25, in accordance with the applicable provisions of
the Companies Act, 2013 and rules framed thereunder.

The report on Internal Financial Control was placed
before the Audit Committee for the consideration and
deliberations. Details of the internal control system are
provided in the Management Discussion and Analysis
Report given at Annexure-"A".

•    Risk Management:

The Company has in place a Board Level Risk Management
Committee and the details of the composition, meetings
held and terms of reference of the Committee are included
under the Report of Corporate Governance placed as
Annexure -"B".

The Company also has a below Board level Committee
constituted of GGM/GM level officers, including GGM
(HRD) as Chief Risk Officer (CRO). The functions of the
Committee are to identify the risks related to the specific
business segments of IRCTC in order to establish an
appropriate risk management framework in the Company.

During meetings of below Board Risk Management
Committee, various risks have been identified and
deliberated at the Board level committee. The details
of the identified risks with their mitigation strategies are
mentioned in the Management Discussion & Analysis
Report enclosed as Annexure-“A”.

•    Significant and Material Orders:

There are no significant or material orders passed by
the regulators or courts or tribunals impacting the going
concern status and the Company's operations in future.

•    Secretarial Standards:

The Company has complied with Secretarial Standards
issued by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India to
the extent applicable.

•    Investor Education & Protection Fund (IEPF):

As of now, there is no amount due for transfer to IEPF and
details of unclaimed dividend as on March 31, 2025 are
available on the website of the Company, and this is also
disclosed in the Corporate Governance report.

•    Reporting of frauds by auditors:

The Auditors in their report for the year have not reported
any instance of fraud committed by the officers/employees
of the Company.

•    Credit Rating of securities:

During FY 2024-25, the Company has not received any
credit rating by the rating agencies.

•    Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process initiated
under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016:

The Company has no information to disclose under above.

•    Failure to implement any Corporate Action:

The Company has implemented all Corporate Actions
successfully within prescribed timelines. Therefore, the
Company has nothing to report.

•    Details of one-time    settlement with    banks/

financial institutions:

The company didn’t make one time settlement with banks/
financial institutions during the financial year. Therefore,
there is nothing to report.

•    Compliance of the provisions relating to the Maternity
Benefit Act, 1961:

The Company has complied with the provisions relating to
Maternity Benefit Act 1961.

•    Particulars relating to Conservation of energy,
Technology Absorption and Foreign Exchange Earnings
and Outgo etc.:

The details pertaining to Conservation of Energy and
Technology Absorption; and Foreign Exchange Earnings
and Outgo, as required to be disclosed under Section

134(3)(m) of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Rule 8 of
the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 is given as under:

Conservation of Energy:

Your Company is committed to minimizing adverse
environmental impacts resulting from its operations,
products, and services. To achieve this, the company
implements various efforts and initiatives aimed at utilizing
processes, practices, materials, and products that prioritize
pollution avoidance, reduction, and control.

Furthermore, IRCTC ensures compliance with relevant
environmental laws and regulations while effectively
operating pollution control facilities across all its
plants and units. This proactive approach is integral to
safeguarding the environment, promoting a safe and clean
environment, and reducing dependence on conventional
energy sources.

The particulars on Conservation of Energy in details are
mentioned in Business Responsibility and Sustainability
Report enclosed as Annexure - “D”.

Technology Absorption:

Details are mentioned below in the table:

S. No.	Particulars	Status
(a)	the details of technology imported;	Nil
(b)	the year of import;	NA
(c)	whether the technology has been fully absorbed;	NA
(d)	if not fully absorbed, areas where absorption has not taken place, and the reasons thereof;	NA

•    Expenditure incurred on Research and Development:

Your Company does not undertake exclusive research
projects as it does not have the presence in such a domain.
However, to improve the technical capability and enhance
competence, some methods and techniques have been
developed and innovative systems have been introduced
for its business segments.

•    Foreign Exchange Earnings and Outgo:

The Foreign Exchange earned in terms of actual inflows
during the year and the Foreign Exchange outgo during
the year, in terms of actual outflows, compared to previous
year is mentioned below:

Particulars	2024-25	2023-24
Foreign Exchange Earning	68.31	36.06
Foreign Exchange Outgo	Â	Â
Foreign Travelling Expenses	1.03	0.41
Other Expenses	1.70	1.47

•    Retirement of Directors by Rotation:

In accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act,
2013, and the Articles of Association of the Company,
Shri Rahul Himalian (DIN: 10393348), Director (Tourism &
Marketing), is liable to retire by rotation at the ensuing 26^th
AGM of the Company and, being eligible, offers himself for
re-appointment. The details of Shri Rahul Himalian, seeking
re-appointment at the ensuing AGM, are contained in
the Notice of AGM.

•    Policy on Performance Evaluation of Directors:

The provisions of Section 134(3)(p) of the Companies
Act, 2013 require a listed entity to include a statement
indicating the manner of formal evaluation of performance
of the Board, its Committees and of individual Directors.
However, the said provisions are exempt for Government
Companies as per Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA)’s
notifications dated 05.06.2015 and 05.07.2017. IRCTC
being a Government Company under the administrative
control of the Ministry of Railways is also exempted from
the above-mentioned provisions of Companies Act.

In IRCTC, the evaluation of performance of Functional
Directors includes self-evaluation by the respective
functional directors and subsequent assessment by CMD
with final evaluation by the Ministry of Railways.

The performance evaluation of CMD includes self¬
evaluation and final evaluation by the Ministry of Railways.

In respect of Government Nominee Directors, their evaluation
is done by the Ministry of Railways as per the procedure laid
down. Since, Independent Directors are appointed by the
administrative ministry, their evaluation is also done by the
Ministry of Railways and Department of Public Enterprises.

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is signed on annual
basis between your Company and administrative ministry, i.e.
Ministry of Railways to assess and enhance performance of the
Company trough the targets set therein.

The performance of the Company has been rated as “Excellent”
based on the outcomes achieved with reference to the key
performance indicators (KPIs) enshrined in the Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) for the financial year 2023-24.

The MoU reflecting the targets for the year 2024-25 has been
finalised by Ministry of Railways and Department of Public
Enterprises (DPE) and the evaluation of the performance
parameters of MoU for the year 2024-25 is in process.

Apart from performance parameters, the MoU for FY 2024-25
also contains compliance parameters such as, procurement of
Goods & Services through MSEs including SC/ST and Women
entrepreneurs, acceptance/rejection of Goods & Services on
TReDs portal, procurement from GeM as per the approved plan,

compliance of the provisions related to CSR, Companies Act,
and SEBI (LODR) etc. The performance of IRCTC for each of the
above parameter has been stated in the respective paragraph
of the Board’s Report.

AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

1.    World Travel Awards 2024 - Asia's Leading Luxury
Train 2024: Maharajas’ Express at Asia & Oceania Gala
Ceremony 2024 on 06.09.2024 at Manila, Philippines.

2.    Seven Stars Luxury Hospitality and Lifestyle Awards at
Almafi Coast Italy- (12^th October 2024)

•    Best Luxury Rail Operator- IRCTC

•    Best Luxury Train- Maharajas Express

•    Best Heritage Experience - Golden Chariot

3.    IRCTC Awarded for the best Tourism Portal at the 9^th
Edition of ITCTA B2B International Tourism Expo, Conclave
and Awards at an event held at New Delhi on 05.07.2024.

4.    IRCTC received a Certificate of Excellence and a
Trophy at the iLounge Media 3^rd PSU Transformation
Conclave & Awards in the category of “Innovative
Product Development” for the Heliyatra Online Ticketing
Service on 05.12.2024

5.    In recognition of surpassing 1 million subscribers, the
channel has been honored with the prestigious YouTube
Golden Play Button, marking a significant milestone in
IRCTC’s digital outreach journey.

DETAILS OF SUBSIDIARIES AND ASSOCIATE/
JOINT VENTURE COMPANIES

During the financial year 2024-25, no subsidiary, joint venture,
or associate company was incorporated or ceased operations.

Your Company has following subsidiaries and associate/joint
venture companies as on March 31, 2025:

a. Subsidiary Companies:

IRCTC Payments Limited:

IRCTC Payments Limited was incorporated on February
10, 2024, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Indian Railway
Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), with the primary
objective of engaging in the payment aggregator business.
The company has an authorized share capital of H25 crores,
comprising 2.5 crore equity shares of H10/- each. The paid-
up share capital also stands at H25 crores, fully subscribed
through the issuance of 2.5 crore equity shares of H10/- each.

The vision behind establishing IRCTC Payments Limited
is to extend payment aggregator services not only within
IRCTC but also to a wider ecosystem, including various
Government departments and private organizations. The

company aims to build a comprehensive digital platform
that facilitates seamless, secure, and efficient financial
transactions. This strategic move is designed to open up
new revenue streams for IRCTC while delivering end-to-
end, superior service experiences to customers across
sectors, making every transaction effortless and reliable.

To operate as a payment aggregator, IRCTC Payments
Limited is required to obtain Payment Aggregator (PA)
Authorization from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in
accordance with the guidelines issued for payment
aggregators. The authorization process involves
two stages: in-principle approval and final approval.
Accordingly, IRCTC Payments Limited has submitted its
application for PA authorization to the RBI on December
12, 2024. The application is currently under review, and in¬
principle approval is awaited. As of now, IRCTC Payments
Limited has not commenced commercial operations and
will do so upon receiving the necessary approvals.

Further information regarding the Board of Directors, Chief
Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO),
and Company Secretary of IRCTC Payments Limited is
available on the official IRCTC website. Stakeholders and
the general public can access these details through the
following web link: https://www.irctc.com/Subsidairy.html.

b. Associate/Joint Venture companies:

Royale Indian Rail Tours Limited (RIRTL):

Royale Indian Rail Tours Limited (RIRTL) is a joint venture
between IRCTC and Cox & Kings Limited in the ratio of
50:50 incorporated on 27^th November, 2008 with an
objective to acquire, furnish, maintain, manage and
operate luxury trains and to market holiday packages.

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
was leased to the Royale Indian Rail Tours Limited (RIRTL)
for the purpose of running, operating and managing the
luxury tourist train for a period of 15 years. However, due to
certain issues between the equity partners, the lease of the
luxury train was withdrawn and the JV Agreement dated
10^th December, 2008 was terminated. Cox & Kings Limited
initiated arbitration proceedings seeking restoration
of Joint Venture Agreement. The Arbitral tribunal after
concluding the Arbitration proceedings passed an Award
dated 31.07.2023 in favour of IRCTC by rejecting all the
claims of Cox & Kings.

IRCTC has also filed a petition against Royale Indian Rail
Tours Limited (RIRTL) and Cox & Kings Limited and others
before National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) (erstwhile
Company Law Board) under sections 388B, 397, 398, 399
and 403 of the Companies Act, 1956 and the said petition

is sub-judice. NCLT has declared the said company (RIRTL)
to be in managerial dispute. Details of the Joint Venture
are covered in the notes to accounts of the standalone
financial statements for the period ending March 31, 2025
vide note no. 37.2(ii) and 45. The parties have also taken
permission from the NCLT for not holding the Board and
General meetings of RIRTL without its approval in July,
2013. The matter relating to the winding up of RIRTL,
whereby an express order from NCLT is to be obtained, is
under process and further course of action would be taken
accordingly based on the developments in this process.

CONSOLIDATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

The Board of Directors of the Company, at its meeting held on
May 28, 2025, approved the Standalone and Consolidated
Financial Statements for the financial year 2024-25. However,
the Consolidated Financial Statements for the financial year
2024-25 have been prepared based on the management-
certified financial statements of the wholly owned subsidiary
company, IRCTC Payments Limited.

In compliance with the first proviso to Section 129(3) of the
Companies Act, 2013, a statement containing the salient
features of the financial statements of the subsidiary company,
IRCTC Payments Limited, is annexed to the Consolidated
Financial Statements and forms part of this Annual Report.

The audited financial statements (Standalone and Consolidated)
of the Company for the financial year 2024-25, along with
the financial statements of its subsidiary company, would be
made available on the Company’s website at www.irctc.com. In
accordance with the provisions of Section 136 of the Companies
Act, 2013, shareholders interested in obtaining a copy of the
said financial statements may access them at: https://www.irctc.
com/financial_reporting.html.

As mentioned in the paragraph above, the Board meetings and
general meetings have not been held in RIRTL since financial
year 2010-2011, due to pending dispute with Cox & Kings
Limited. Therefore, the financial statements of RIRTL, as required
under section 129(3) of the Companies Act 2013, could not be
consolidated with the financial statements of the Company, as
also explained and disclosed in the Notes to accounts of the
financial statements for the period ending 31^st March 2025.

AUDITORS

Statutory Auditor:

Under Section 139(5) of the Companies Act 2013, Comptroller &
Auditor General of India has appointed M/s N.K Bhargava & Co.,
Chartered Accountants as Statutory Auditor of the Company to
audit the financial statements for the financial year 2024-25. The
details of payment made to Statutory Auditor during financial
year 2024-25 on consolidated basis is mentioned below:

Payment to Auditors	Year ended March 31, 2025	Year ended March 31, 2024
Audit Fees	0.23	0.18
Tax Audit Fees	0.06	0.05
Certification and Other Services	0.14	0.11
Travelling and Out of Pocket Expenses	0.04	0.09
Total	0.47	0.43

Secretarial Auditor:

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 204 of the Companies Act,
2013, read with the Companies (Appointment and Remuneration
of Managerial Personnel) Rules, 2014, IRCTC has appointed
M/s Kumar Naresh Sinha & Associates, an independent firm
of Practicing Company Secretaries, to conduct the Secretarial
Audit of the Company for the financial year 2024-25.

The Secretarial Audit Report for the financial year ended March
31, 2025, as provided by the Secretarial Auditor, is annexed to
this Report and marked as Annexure “D”.

Internal Auditor:

In accordance with the provisions of Section 138 of the
Companies Act, 2013, read with Rule 13 of the Companies
(Accounts) Rules, 2014, the Company has appointed M/s S.K.
Misra and Gujrati, Chartered Accountants, an independent
professional accounting firm, as the Internal Auditor for the
financial year 2024-25. The details regarding the scope and
functions of the firm are provided in the Management Discussion
and Analysis Report.

Cost Auditor:

The business segments of IRCTC are not covered under Cost
Audit Rules notified by Ministry of Corporate Affairs. However,
the Company conducted the cost audit of cost records
maintained by the Rail Neer Plants on a voluntary basis only
through M/s HMVN & Associates, appointed as the Cost Auditor
for the year 2024-25.

COMMENTS OF COMPTROLLER & AUDITOR
GENERAL (C&AG) OF INDIA

The Comptroller & Auditor General of India has undertaken
supplementary audit on the financial statements (Standalone &
Consolidated) of the Company for the year ended 31^st March,
2025 under Section 143(6) of the Companies Act, 2013.

The comments of the C&AG on the financial statements
(Standalone & Consolidated) of the Company for the year
ended 31^st March, 2025 shall also form part of this report.

C&AG Paras from Other Audits:

In addition to the supplementary audit of the financial statements
mentioned earlier, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG)

conducts various types of audits. During the financial year
2024-25, the C&AG team issued six paras ( two paras under
Part II-A and four paras under Part II-B) during the transaction
audit of the IRCTC Corporate Office, covering the period
2023-25. These paras relate to operating losses of the Tejas
train, inadmissible payment to TADK by the company toward
regular employees, execution of the Budget Hotel (Khajuraho),
awarding of work for Zimbra mail services to RailTel, allotment
of vehicles in contravention of CVC Guidelines, and outstanding
refund receivable with Income Tax. The replies to these paras
are currently under consideration of Management and will be
provided shortly to CAG.

DIRECTORS’ RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT

Pursuant to the requirement under Section 134 of the Companies
Act, 2013, with respect to Directors’ Responsibility Statement, it
is hereby confirmed that:

(a)    In the preparation of the annual accounts, the applicable
accounting standards were followed and there was no
material departures from the same;

(b)    The Directors had selected such accounting policies
and applied them consistently and made judgments and
estimates that were reasonable and prudent, so as to give
a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Company
as on 31^st March, 2025 and of the profit of the Company for
the year ended on that date;

(c)    The Directors had taken proper and sufficient care for
the maintenance of adequate accounting records in
accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act,
2013, for safeguarding the assets of the Company and for
preventing and detecting fraud and other irregularities;

(d)    The Directors had prepared the annual accounts of the
Company on a ‘going concern’ basis;

(e)    The Directors had laid down internal financial controls
which were being followed by the Company and that
such internal financial controls were adequate and were
operating effectively; and

(f)    The Directors had devised proper systems to ensure
compliance with the provisions of all applicable laws and
that such systems are adequate and operating effectively.

DIRECTORS AND KEY MANAGERIAL PERSONNEL
(KMPs)

Since the last Annual General Meeting, the following changes
have taken place in the composition of the Board of Directors
and Key Managerial Personnel (KMPs) of the Company:

Appointments:

1. Shri Shivendra Shukla (DIN: 10765384), ED (PM), Railway
Board was appointed as Government Nominee Director
on the Board of IRCTC w.e.f. September 03, 2024.

2.    Shri Rabindra Nath Mishra (DIN: 09050821), EDF/C&PPP,
Railway Board, was entrusted with the additional charge
of the post of Director (Finance), IRCTC, w.e.f October 1,
2024, in accordance with the Ministry of Railways’ letter
dated September 30, 2024.

3.    Shri Sudhir Kumar, GGM (Finance), was appointed as
Chief Financial Officer (CFO) w.e.f. January 16, 2025. He
has also been assigned with additional charge of Director
(Finance) by Ministry of Railways vide letter dated July
22, 2025. Accordingly, he has assumed the additional
charge of Director (Finance), in addition to his own, w.e.f.
July 22, 2025.

4.    Shri Namgyal Wangchuk (DIN: 09397676) was reappointed
as an Independent Director w.e.f. April 15, 2025, after
completion of his three years tenure as Independent
Director on November 11, 2024.

5.    Shri Sanjay Gaur (DIN: 09399463) was appointed as an
Independent Director w.e.f. April 15, 2025.

6.    Shri Manoj Kumar Sharma (DIN: 11214123) assumed the
additional charge of Director (Catering Services), in
addition to his own, w.e.f. August 01, 2025, in accordance
with Ministry of Railways letter dated July 22, 2025.

Cessations:

1. Shri Neeraj Sharma (DIN: 08177824), ceased to be
Government Nominee Director of the Company w.e.f.
August 01, 2024, on account of superannuation.

2.    Shri Ajit Kumar (DIN: 07247362), Director (Finance) &
Chief Financial Officer (CFO), ceased to hold the office
w.e.f. October 01, 2024, upon attaining the age of
superannuation.

3.    Shri Vinay Kumar Sharma (DIN: 03604125) completed his
tenure as an Independent Director on November 08, 2024.

4.    Shri Gaisingam Kabui, Former GGM (Finance) & CFO w.e.f.
October 1, 2024, was relieved from IRCTC on December
16, 2024, upon completion of his deputation tenure.

5.    Shri Rabindra Nath Mishra (DIN: 09050821) relinquished
the additional charge of Director (Finance) on July 22, 2025
in terms of Railway Board’s letter dated July 22, 2025.

6.    Dr. Lokiah Ravikumar (DIN: 10045466) Director (Catering
Services), ceased to hold the office on July 31, 2025 due
to superannuation.

The Board of Directors of your Company place on record
its sincere appreciation for the valuable contributions and
dedicated service rendered by Shri Neeraj Sharma, Shri Ajit
Kumar, Shri Vinay Kumar Sharma, Shri Gaisingam Kabui, Shri
Rabindra Nath Mishra and Dr. Lokiah Ravikumar, during their
association with the Company. The Board acknowledges
their significant contributions to the growth, governance, and
strategic direction of the Company and extends its best wishes
for their future endeavours.

The following directors are holding office as on the date of the report:

S. No.	Particulars	Date of Appointment/ Re-appointment
1.	Shri Sanjay Kumar Jain (DIN: 09629741) Chairman and Managing Director	From 10th January, 2024 onwards
2.	Shri Sudhir Kumar (DIN: 10834749) Director (Finance)	From 22nd July, 2025 onwards
3.	Shri Rahul Himalian (DIN: 10393348) Director (Tourism & Marketing)	From 16th February, 2024 onwards
4.	Shri Manoj Kumar Sharma (DIN: 11214123) Director (Catering Services)	From 1st August, 2025 onwards
5.	Shri Manoj Kumar Gangeya (DIN: 09744752) ED (Planning), Railway Board & Part-time Government Nominee Director	From 21st September, 2022 onwards
6.	Shri Shivendra Shukla (DIN: 10765384) ED (PM), Railway Board & Part-time Government Nominee Director	From 3rd September, 2024 onwards
7.	Shri Devendra Pal Bharti (DIN: 10198557) Independent Director	From 9th June, 2023 onwards
8.	Shri Namgyal Wangchuk (DIN: 09397676) Independent Director	From 15th April, 2025 onwards
9.	Shri Sanjay Gaur (DIN: 09399463) Independent Director	From 15th April, 2025 onwards

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Your Directors are highly grateful for all the help, guidance and support received from the Ministry of Railways, DIPAM, DPE, Ministry
of Finance, MCA, Ministry of Tourism, and other agencies in Central and State Governments. Your directors acknowledge the
constructive suggestions received from Auditors and Comptroller and Auditor General of India and are grateful for their continued
support and cooperation.

Your Directors thank all stakeholders, business partners and all members of the IRCTC Family for their faith, trust and confidence
reposed in the Board. Your Directors wish to place on record their sincere appreciation for the unstinting efforts and dedicated
contributions put in by the IRCTC family at all levels to ensure that the Company continues to sustain, grow and excel.

For and on behalf of Board of Directors

Sd/-

(Sanjay Kumar Jain)

Place: New Delhi    Chairman & Managing Director

Date: August 04, 2025    DIN: 09629741

1

   Jan Ahaars: The menu and tariff of meal items served
at Jan Ahaar are regulated by Railway. It serves
snacks and a-la-carte items and standard breakfast/
lunch/dinner & Janta Khana. In addition, packed food
& beverages such as aerated drinks, Biscuits, Chips,
Namkeens, Chocolates, Ready to Eat meals (RTE) and
Railneer PDW etc. are also served. As on 31.03.2025,
IRCTC managed 38 Jan Ahaars across IR network

---

Mar 31, 2024

We are delighted to present the 25^th Annual Report on the business and operations of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (herein referred to as ‘IRCTC’ or ‘Company’) and its Audited Statements of Accounts for the financial year ended March 31, 2024 (FY’24), together with the Auditors’ Report and Comments on the Accounts by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) of India. The detailed financial and operational performance of the Company is produced in the report.

KEY PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS FOR FY 24:

•    Highest ever Revenue from operations of H 4,270.18 Crore from Catering, Rail Neer, Tourism & Internet Ticketing business.

•    Highest ever PAT of H 1,111.26 Crore.

•    Catering Services in 1250+ trains and served more than 16 lakhs meals per day.

•    Transactions value for e-Catering crossed H 250 crore, subsequent to tie-ups with Food Aggregators in FY 24.

•    Under the aegis of Ministry of Railways, IRCTC operated 181 Bharat Gaurav Train Tours and provided services to 1.17 lakh tourists in FY 24.

•    Provided services in 337 Aastha trains carrying 5.48 lakh passengers.

•    Highest ever average per day 12.38 lakh rail e-tickets issued in FY 24.

•    Incorporation of IRCTC Payments Limited, wholly owned subsidiary of IRCTC for payment aggregator business.

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW

The summarised financial performance of the Company during F.Y. 2023-24 along with the corresponding performance of F.Y. 2022-23 are mentioned below:

Amount (J in Cr.)

Particulars	F.Y. 2023-24	F.Y. 2022-23	% age Increase/ Decrease
Revenue from Operations	4,270.18	3,541.47	20.58
Total Income	4,434.66	3,661.90	21.10
EBITDA (Profit Before Exceptional Items, Finance Cost, Tax, Depreciation & Amortisation)	1,630.68	1,396.65	16.76
Depreciation	57.22	53.73	6.50
Profit Before Tax & Exceptional Items	1,554.81	1,326.81	17.18
Profit before tax	1,496.28	1,354.01	10.51
Provision for Tax	385.03	348.13	10.60
Profit after tax	1,111.26	1,005.88	10.48
Interim Dividend	200.00	280.00	-28.57
Final Dividend	320.00	160.00	100.00
General Reserve	35	35	0
Reserves & Surplus	3,069.97	2,318.40	32.42
Net Worth	3,229.97	2,478.40	30.32
Earnings Per Share (H)	13.89	12.57	10.50

•    Capital Structure

As on March 31, 2024, the authorized share capital of the Company stood at H 250 Crores consisting of 125 Crore equity shares of H 2/- each and paid-up share capital of the Company was H 160 Crores consisting of 80 Crore equity shares of H 2/- each. During the financial year 2023-24, the Company has not issued any shares.

The details of dematerialisation of shares, Demat Suspense Account / Unclaimed Suspense Account are provided in the Corporate Governance Report, as annexed to this report.

•    Shareholding of the President of India (PoI)

President of India (PoI) holds 49,91,72,170 equity shares (i.e., 62.40% of the total paid-up equity share capital) in the Company with face value of H 2/- each.

•    Dividend

The Board of Directors has recommended a Final Dividend of H 4/- per share (i.e., 200% on the paid-up share capital) for the financial year 2023-24, amounting to H 320 Crores, subject to approval of the shareholders in the ensuing AGM. This Final Dividend is in addition to the Interim Dividend of H 2.50 per share (i.e., 125% of the paid-up share capital) declared by the Board of Directors in the month of November 2023 and already paid to the shareholders in December 2023.

Accordingly, total dividend for the financial year 2023-24 amounts to H 520 Crores (i.e. 325% on the paid-up share capital) which works out to 46.79 % of the post-tax profits for 2023-24 and 16.10% of Networth as of March 31, 2024.

The declaration of dividend by the Company for the financial year 2023-2024 is in compliance with the guidelines issued by the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), which prescribes that the minimum dividend to be paid for the year should be at least 5% of net worth or 30% of profit after tax, whichever is higher.

The Dividend Distribution Policy of the Company is available on the Company’s website at

https://www.irctc.com/assets/images/IRCTC

_DIVIDEND%20DISTRIBUTION%20POLICY-_31.07.2019

_CB%20Comments%20r05.08.20191.pdf

•    Unpaid/Unclaimed Dividend

The details of unpaid/unclaimed dividend are available on the website of the Company at the link https://www. irctc.com/iepf.html, and is also disclosed in the Corporate Governance report.

•    Transfer to Reserves

During 2023-24, the Company transferred H 35 Crores to General reserves.

•    IRCTC’s Rank at Stock Exchanges (BSE and NSE)

Based on the market capitalization of the Company as on 31^st March 2024, your Company was ranked at 113^th position at both BSE and NSE.

•    Market capitalization

Market capitalization (BSE) of the Company increased from H 45,840 crore on March 31, 2023 to H 74,396 crore on March 31, 2024.

•    Company’s contribution by way of revenue share to Ministry of Railways

The Company contributes by way of revenue share to Ministry of Railways (MoR) and the total share of such contribution was H 944.62 Crores during the year as against H 704.90 Crores in FY 2022-23.

Contribution to the revenue to MoR comprises of Haulage Charges, Railway Share and Dividend.

•    Employee Stock options

Your Company has not provided any Employee Stock Option, therefore, disclosure requirement in relation to ESOP under Rule 12(9) and Rule 16(4) of the Companies (Share Capital and Debentures) Rules, 2014 is not applicable.

OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE

The segment wise operational performance of the Company during 2023-24 is detailed below:

a. CATERING & HOSPITALITY:

The Catering and Hospitality segment of IRCTC is segregated as produced below:

Â	< Catering & Hospitality <_-
Y (	Y (	Y r
Mobile Catering	Static Catering	e-Catering
Â	Â	l_

Mobile Catering

Mobile Catering segment caters to passengers travelling while in a train through onboard catering services arrangements and comprises of following:

1	• Gatiman Tejas & Vande Bharat
Mobile	• Rajdhani, Shatabdi & Duronto (RSD)
Catering	• Mail Express
1	• Train Side Vending (TSV)

Mobile Catering segment caters to passengers travelling while in a train through onboard catering services arrangements. Mobile Catering services are being provided through pantry cars/ mini pantries (with on-board storage, reheating and cooling facility) in the trains or through Train Side Vending (TSV) in trains, which do not have pantry cars/ mini pantries. The food for service on the trains is picked up from originating/ en-route stations and is served to the passengers.

As on March 31, 2024, IRCTC provided Onboard Catering Services in 1265 trains.

• Vande Bharat Trains:

Vande Bharat train is the pride of Indian Railways. As on 31.03.2024, IRCTC had managed onboard catering services in 51 Vande Bharat Trains over Indian Railways.

The menu of catering services for Vande Bharat train is designed on the basis of regional cuisine and popular demand of the passengers, including millet items.

•    Rajdhani, Shatabdi & Duronto Express Trains:

These are the premium segment trains over Indian Railways. The catering charges are included in the ticket fare. Depending on the duration and timings of the journey, the catering services include morning tea, breakfast, lunch, high tea and dinner. The tariff for catering services of these trains is governed by Railway whereas the menu is decided by IRCTC duly considering regional preferences. As on 31.03.2024, IRCTC provided on-board catering services in 25 Rajdhani Express, 21 Shatabdi Express and 18 Duronto Express trains.

•    Gatiman & Tejas Express Trains:

These are also the premium segment trains over Indian Railways under prepaid model. The catering charges are included in the ticket fare. The tariff for catering services of these trains is governed by the Railway Board whereas the menu is decided by IRCTC duly considering regional preferences. As on 31.03.2024, IRCTC provided on-board catering services in 01 Gatiman and 02 Tejas Express trains.

•    Mail Express Trains:

These are the trains where catering charges are not included in the ticket fare and passengers have to purchase the meal items onboard. The food item menu issued vide Commercial Circular no. 60 of 2019 is applicable in these trains. The menu items consist of Breakfast (Veg/Non Veg), Std. Veg. and Non-Veg. meal (with Egg curry and Chicken Curry). As on 31.03.2024, IRCTC provided on-board catering services in 443 Mail/Express trains.

•    Train-Side Vending:

There are a large number of trains which do not have pantry cars or mini pantries. In such Mail/ Express trains, Onboard Catering Services is arranged by IRCTC through Train Side Vending. In this arrangement, food and beverages for servicers are arranged from originating and en-route stations.

As on March 31, 2024 IRCTC provided Onboard Catering Services through Train Side Vending arrangements, (sectional / end to end) in 702 trains.

•    War Room for Handling Complaints/Grievances:

An exclusive War Room for complaint and feedback management has been set up at IRCTC’s Corporate Office, to facilitate fast and prompt redressal of passenger complaints and grievances on real time basis.

The War Room is equipped with latest communications facilities and manned by qualified, skilled and trained manpower. The War Room is functional round-the-clock 24x7 on all days.

• Quality Control

To improve the standard quality meals and service for passengers, IRCTC has put the following systems in place.

>    Regular & Surprise Inspections:

Regular onboard inspections are being conducted by IRCTC officials periodically in trains and catering units at stations, in addition, surprise inspections are also being carried out by IRCTC’s officers from the Corporate and the Zonal offices and designated Railways' officials. Necessary corrective actions are taken on the deficiencies noticed during these inspections. During the FY 2023-24, around 11,840 onboard monitoring checks and 9,600 surprise inspections were carried out .

>    Food Sampling:

In order to ensure food safety, food samples of Raw Material, Cooked Food, Ready to Eat (RTE) and Proprietary Article Depot (PAD) items are being tested on regular basis to ensure compliance with FSSAI standards by sending samples regularly for testing in NABL-accredited labs. During the financial year 2023-24, a total of 24,269 samples of Raw

>    Customer Satisfaction Survey:

Material, Cooked Food, RTE and PAD items were collected and tested in NABL labs.

 

Third party Customer Satisfaction Surveys are also undertaken by IRCTC to get the feedback and opinion of travelling passengers, through reputed professional agencies. During the FY 2023-24, Customer Satisfaction Survey was conducted in 370 Static units and 332 Mobile units by M/s Foresight Research & Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

>    On-Board deployment of Catering Supervisors:

IRCTC deploys Supervisors/Catering assistants to conduct end-to-end monitoring of catering services on all premium prepaid trains and also sectional monitoring of all Mail/Express trains where catering services are being rendered. This is to ensure that the on-board monitoring staff addresses the grievances of passengers on a real time basis.

>    On-Line Empanelment:

To ensure transparency in system, IRCTC has introduced online empanelment process for Propriety Article Depot (PAD) and Ready to Eat (RTE) products. Any applicant sitting in the comfort of his or her office or home can apply for empanelment of its products to IRCTC through an online process placed at www.irctc.com and www.tenderwizard.com/IRCTC. The applicant is informed about the outcome of the application in a time-bound process.

>    Introduction of MSEMs:

In line with the Govt. of India's initiative for promotion of MSMEs, IRCTC has provided various exemptions for the promotion of MSMEs. During FY 2023-24, IRCTC empanelled 08 brands promoted by MSME firms for supply of food items over Indian Railways network.

>    Complaint Monitoring & Redressal:

> Third Party Food Safety and Hygiene Audits:

Third Party Food Safety & Hygiene audits are undertaken by IRCTC to get feedback on hygiene, quality of food, infrastructure facility, implementation of FSSAI regulations etc. During the FY 2023-24, Third Party Food Safety and Hygiene Audits were conducted in 259 Mobile Units and 163 Static Units.

 

A passenger can give feedback or register complaint against catering services on ‘Rail Madad’ module that allows passengers to lodge complaints through mobile app/web platform. There are other various methods to register complaints such as, CPGRAM, National Consumer helpline, Complaint Books, etc.

There is a monitoring team designated by IRCTC, which forwards the complaints feedback data to the concerned department/s and files interim reply to passengers online followed by final remarks on the action taken. Complaints / feedback pertaining to IRCTC are recorded on E CSIM (Catering Service Information Management)

on the action taken and disposal thereof. During the FY 2023-24, a total number of 19,891 catering complaints were registered on E-CSIM platform, and all complaints were disposed off.

> QR Codes:

To enhance the travel experience of passengers, the concept of QR Codes was started to provide information on the meals prepared in the Base Kitchens i.e. date of preparation, name of the kitchen, FSSAI, weight, live CCTV streaming link etc. which builds the confidence and assurance to the passengers on the quality and hygienic standards maintained. The above facility is being implemented in phases across various base kitchens pan India.

>    Point of Sale (POS) Handheld Billing Machines:

To curb overcharging, issuance of invoices through POS machines in all the catering units has been made mandatory for all the vendors. The same is being implemented in various phases. These machines enable issuing of bills for every transaction, both in Mobile and Static catering units which facilitates proper accounting system and control. Efforts have been made for cashless transactions in all Trains, Train-Side Vending etc. under the Digital India initiative of the Government of India. As on 31.03.2024, 4128 POS machines have been made available in 891 rakes of Pantry cars trains and 4035 POS machines in 1106 rakes of TSV trains. In addition, 657 POS machines have been made available in 534 static catering units viz, Refreshment Rooms, Jan Ahaars, Food Plazas, Fast Food units, Retiring Rooms, Executive Lounges and RYN/ BNR Hotels under IRCTC.

Static Catering:

Static catering units are located at station premises and offers catering services to the travelling passengers across the country. Static Catering comprises of the following:

> CCTV Monitoring:

During the FY 2023-24, IRCTC enabled live monitoring in 36 kitchens through CCTV cameras on IRCTC portal. To ensure the hygiene levels of the cooked food and safety parameters, IRCTC installed CCTV cameras facilitating 24X7 monitoring of kitchen units/ Base kitchens, which is overseen by the War Room located at Corporate Office and Central Control Room.

 

Static Catering Services

•    Food Plazas •    Fast Food Units •    Refreshment Rooms •    Jan Ahaars •    Base Kitchens •    Executive Lounges •    Retiring Rooms •    RYN/BNR Hotels •    Non Railway Catering (NRC)

 

As on March 31, 2024 IRCTC managed 141 Refreshment Rooms, 40 Jan Ahaars, 9 Base Kitchens, 146 Food Plazas and 159 Fast Food Units. Refreshment Rooms and Jan Ahaars are located at Railway platform and sell low budget meal items to the travelling passengers. The tariff of the items sold through Refreshment Rooms and Jan Ahaars are regulated and approved by Ministry of Railways/IRCTC. A list of the items to be sold on these units along with their prices is provided by the Ministry of Railways/IRCTC. These units usually sell items to passengers on the platform and sometimes supply food to moving trains.

• Jan Ahaars:

Jan Ahaar serves snacks and a-La-carte items, standard breakfast, standard meals, Janta Khana, as authorized by the Railways. In addition, Jan Ahaar aLso serves approved brands of packed items such as aerated drinks, Biscuits, Chips, Namkeens, ChocoLates and Ready to Eat meaLs (RTE) and RaiLneer Packaged Drinking Water (PDW) etc. on MRP basis.

• Refreshment Rooms:

IRCTC manages Refreshment Rooms at A1 & A category stations at aLL stations. These units are generally part of station building. The meal items served at these units incLudes snacks, a-La-carte items, standard breakfast/meals, Janta Khana etc. The tariff of the cooked food items is regulated. In addition, approved brands of packed items such as aerated drinks, Biscuits, Chips, Namkeens, ChocoLates and Ready to Eat meaLs (RTE) and Railneer PDW etc. are also served.

•    Up-gradation of Kitchens:

As per the provisions contained in Catering Policy-2017 and to execute the unbundling of catering services, IRCTC upgraded 48 Kitchens in order to cover more trains for suppLy of meaLs from Kitchen units/Base kitchens. During the year 2023-24, IRCTC has further upgraded 23 kitchens duly installing the modern and mechanized kitchen equipment for meal production. The upgraded kitchens have the facility of QR code on meal packets, live monitoring through CCTV cameras etc. Food Safety Supervisors (FSS) have been depLoyed for coLLection of Food sampLes for lab testing. Commercial Circular No. 24/2023 issued by RaiLway Board has permitted Long term contracts for train cluster tenders, for which “State of Art” Base Kitchens will be set up and managed by the successful licensees of the train contract in each of the sections where cluster trains are operational. The impLementation is under process.

•    Food Plazas (FPs)/Fast Food Units (FFUs):

Food Plazas are multi-cuisine outlet in the stations providing a variety of food items under one roof, in a reLaxed dine-in atmosphere with a good ambience and a common kitchen to provide a wide variety of food items. The quality and rates for items of Food PLazas are market-driven. As on 31.03.2024, IRCTC managed 146 Food Plaza across Indian Railway network.

Fast Food Units are major units in the stations serving fast food items through self-service counters and faciLity of take away service is aLso avaiLabLe for passengers across the counters. The quaLity and rates for items in Fast Food Units are aLso market-driven. As on 31.03.2024, IRCTC managed 159 Fast Food units across Indian Railway Network.

• Management of Base Kitchens:

Base Kitchen is a large cooking and packing facility set up in the vicinity of Railways premises from where food is prepared, packed, transported and served in trains. There is no sale of food items directly to the passengers from Base Kitchens. The food from Base kitchen is supplied in all types of trains. IRCTC managed total 09 Base kitchens as on 31.03.2024.

• Executive Lounges:

IRCTC has been mandated for management of Executive Lounge at stations, which provides a range of services on payment basis. These services include, facilities such as wash and change, wi-fi internet, live TV, channel music, newspaper/book stand, buffet services concierge services for pre-departure and post arrival assistance to the passengers. As on 31^st March, 2024, IRCTC managed Executive Lounges at 9 stations viz. New Delhi (Paharganj Side & Ajmeri Gate side), Agra Cantt, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Madurai, Sealdah, Dwarka and Varanasi. Executive Lounge is also under commissioning at Bhopal Railway Station and Varanasi Railway Station.

•    Non-Railway Catering (NRC):

IRCTC manages various canteens, cafeterias, kiosks etc. located in various Govt. as well as non-Govt. offices including institutional catering for provision of hospitality and catering services. The NRC unit serves quality & hygienic breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks etc. As on 31.03.2024, IRCTC managed 09 Non-Railway projects.

•    Rail Yatri Niwas/BNR Hotels:

IRCTC also develops, operates and maintains Rail Yatri Niwas/BNR Hotels. The sites have been given to IRCTC on licence with permission to sub-license the rights to third parties through Public-Private Partnership. As on March 31, 2024, IRCTC operated One Rail Yatri Niwas at Howrah and two BNR Hotels at Puri and Ranchi.

• Retiring Rooms:

IRCTC manages Retiring Rooms at major railway stations to improve the accommodation facilities for the travelling passengers and to provide affordable and comfortable stay facilities. Retiring Room offers facilities such as Air-Conditioned Rooms and Dormitories, Quality Linen, Locker facility for luggage, LED Television, Bathrooms with all basic facilities such as WC, Geysers, Shower etc. with pantry and housekeeping services. As on March 31, 2024, IRCTC managed 36 Retiring Rooms. IRCTC has taken over 100 sites from Ministry of Railways, which are in the process of tendering.

e-Catering:

To provide quality and a wider range of cuisine while traveling, IRCTC has introduced its new e-Catering Website & Mobile app (Food on Track) for food delivery in trains at selected stations. Available for download from Google Play and iTunes, passengers can now easily

install the app on their android or iOS smart phones and get palatable yet affordable food delivery in trains from a variety of food partners. The prices of food booked under e-Catering are market driven, where the restaurant fixes the menu.

With this new online food delivery app, passengers can order food on train by simply entering their travel details such as PNR number, Train name, seat/berth number and expect a delicious and quick food delivery on train. This effective system of online food delivery on train not only guarantees tasty food on your seat but also a revamped railway food menu making your journey a bit more fun. With multiple food aggregators at stations, travellers can now enjoy an extensive set of meals ranging from North Indian to South Indian, Pizzas to mouthwatering Biryanis, butter chicken and Chinese delicacies etc.

IRCTC e-Catering has integrated with B2C partners. Some are already made LIVE such as Ixigo, Confirmtkt, Make My Trip, Yatra, Railofy etc. to improve the process of reach out to customers.

Some of the major brands associated with e-Catering services are Domino's Pizza, Haldiram's, Faasos, A2B, Oven Story, Behrouz Biryani, Wow Momo’s etc.

• Growth of e-Catering

2014-15	22	Â	Â
2015-16	443	Â	Â
2016-17	4273	Â	Â
2017-18	5188	Â	Â
2018-19	11858	Â	Â
2019-20	21571	Â	Â
2020-21	9180	Â	Â
Â	Â	Â	Â
2021-22	17863	Â	Â
2022-23	Â	40669	Â
2023-24	Â	Â	55127
*Average	meals booked per day	Â	Â

• Booking of e-Catering orders through Zomato & Swiggy

Recently, IRCTC e-Catering services has partnered with M/s Zomato Ltd. and M/s Swiggy with the shared vision of bringing convenient food options to our passengers, to make their train journeys delightful. “We are confident that our collaboration will bring immense delight to our customers as we remain committed to exploring the unique ways that make train journeys more comfortable and memorable for our passengers.’’

Future Strategy:

1.    Identification of Fresh sites for Food Plazas & Fast Food unit at A1 and A Category Stations:

To provide catering services at market driven rates and standards, Railway Board has been requested to handover fresh sites at 146 stations for setting up of Food plaza & Fast Food Units.

2.    Retiring Room & Dormitories:

In order to increase the approach towards accommodation services at stations and revenue of IRCTC, Railway Board has been requested to issue instructions to Zonal Railway to expedite handing over of the 100 more sites of Retiring Rooms especially at A1 & A category Stations to IRCTC.

Budget Hotels:

IRCTC plans to built a network of a well-planned chain of hotels that target the economy / budget travellers. Hotels at following locations are being/have been planned:

• Budget Hotel at Lucknow: Work for setting up of 109 Keys Budget Hotel at Lucknow is nearing completion.

Due process of acquiring regulatory / operational licenses is in process. The Hotel is being set up through PPP Model with investment of H 20 crore. The hotel will have facilities to cater to demand of tourists and Meetings, Incentive, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE). Expected date of Soft Operation of Budget Hotel at Lucknow is September, 2024.

•    Budget Hotel at Khajuraho: Work for setting up of 60 Key Budget Hotels at Khajuraho is in progress. Development of Hotel is through PPP Model with investment of H 7.5 crore. Expected date of completion of Budget Hotel at Khajuraho is August, 2025.

•    Budget Hotel at Kevadia: Due to increase in footfall at Statute of Unity and to tap the tourism potential of upcoming tourist destination of Kevadia, IRCTC is in process to create 500 Key Budget accommodation in the town. In the first phase, work for setting up of 125 Key Budget Hotels at Kevadia is in progress through PPP Model with investment of H 20 crores. Expected date of completion of Budget Hotel at Kevadia is December, 2025.

•    Other Hotels in pipeline: To have presence on pan India basis, IRCTC has approached other states governments i.e, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland and J&K for allotment of land as follows:

a. Budget Hotel at Goa: IRCTC is in process for allotment of land near New Manohar International Airport, MOPA, Goa. Govt. of Goa has already identified land parcel for IRCTC Hotel at Goa.

b.    Budget Hotel at Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh:

IRCTC is in process to purchase suitable land parcel for development of Budget Hotel at Holy City of Ayodhya.

c.    Budget Hotel at Kohima, Nagaland: Govt. of Nagaland has approached IRCTC for setting of budget hotel in Kohima, Nagaland. Discussions are in advanced stage for allotment of land to IRCTC for the above said project.

d.    Budget Hotel at Gangtok, Sikkim: Govt. of Sikkim has offered a land parcel to IRCTC for setting of Hotel at Gangtok, Sikkim. Discussions are in process for allotment of land to IRCTC for the above said project.

b. TRAVEL AND TOURISM

Being a Railway PSU, IRCTC specialises in rail-based products and is the market leader in this segment. IRCTC is one of the leading travel and tourism companies in the market, catering to the needs of diverse tourist segments be it land, customised or LTC packages. Besides rail based tourism products, IRCTC has also diversified into various other tourism businesses for increasing the market share in the immensely competitive tourism market. Further new avenues have also been explored by planning new packages based on heritage, culture, adventure, medical wellness and special interest tours. IRCTC has launched attractive, competitive and economical tour packages on its exclusive tourism portal, www.irctctourism.com for showcasing and booking of various tourism products in a single space, shown below as:

,----------------O----------------, IRCTC’s Tourism Products and Services _...............m-rnTr............__
1 f—o—	Â	1 r-O-	1 ( O	1 i r o	1 O--',	Â	1 r--------O-----
Domestic Tour	Â	IRCTC	Mass Tourism	Special	Outbound	Â	Other Tourism Activities
Packages	Â	Corporate	Bharat Gaurav	Purpose	Tour	Â	i i Event Management
Â	i	Trains	Â	Tours	Packages	f	i “ i
Rail Tour Packages	Â	u--------	Â	Educational	i x-	Â	Booking of Charter
J Holiday Packages	; ,-----U-----		State Special	II Tours	: r—v—.		Trains & Coaches
Packages	J J Inbound Tourist J		Tourist Trains i	¦ Cultural	Air Ticket > i i		Hill and Heritage Charters
J with Charter Train/	Targeted Tours		Election	Exchange	and Corporate		J Saloon Tours and Charters J
! Coaches	Maharajas'		Specials	Tours, etc	Travel i i .	i	Online reservation of
Customised Tours	Express	i	L----------	Â	Air Ticketing		Accommodation facilities
LTC Tours	i i i Golden Chariot		Â	Â	Corporate		Cruise Packages i i
Â	i i	i	Â	Â	Travel	i	'VISA & FOREX 1
Domestic	Deluxe Tourist		Â	Â	Â	Â	Â
Air Packages	Train (incl Buddhist		Â	Â	i	i	i i
Â	Circuit tour)		Â	Â	i	i	i i
Â	Â	Â	Â	Â	Â	Â	Â
Â	Â	Â	Â	Â	Â	Â	Â

During FY 2023-24, IRCTC has marketed its tourism products across India though various marketing activities especially Digital Marketing & Social Media. In addition to the conventional methods of marketing and advertising, Digital Marketing & Social Media has contributed significantly due to large number of followers on social media. The major contributors in achieving the highest tourism revenue are Bharat Gaurav Trains (including State Special trains and the Deluxe Tourist Train), IRCTC Corporate Tejas Trains, Maharajas' Express, Domestic Air Packages, Holiday/ Customised/ Education Tours etc.

The performance of tourism products is provided below:

1. Domestic Tourism

i.    Rail Tour packages - IRCTC offers comprehensive rail tour packages with all inclusive services like confirmed onward and return rail journey, road transfers, accommodation, meals and sight-seeing at reasonable rates. During FY 2023-24, IRCTC provided service to 26,395 passenger through Rail Tour packages, with an increase of 21.41% as compared to 21,741 tourists in FY 2022- 23.

ii.    Holiday packages - IRCTC also operates Holiday Packages (Land Packages) which includes road transfers, accommodation, meals and sightseeing as per the itinerary. In these packages, services are offered ex-destination (whether from Railway Station/ Airport / Bus Stand). During FY 2023-24, a total 45,477 passengers availed IRCTC land packages.

iii.    Packages with charter coach and train -

These are all inclusive packages like Rail Tour Packages, where the train travel is arranged through chartered coaches or trains by IRCTC. During FY 2023-24, IRCTC operated 17 RTP with charter coaches catering to 972 passengers in comparison of 14 RTP charter coach tours during FY 2022- 23.

iv.    Customized tour package - These packages are tailor-made based on the requirement of the tourists such as, budget, level of luxury, places of Interest, length of stay, etc. During the financial year 2023-24, total 6,671 number of passengers availed customised packages of IRCTC.

v.    Leave Travel Concession (LTCs): Government of India has authorised IRCTC as one among three PSUs for operating LTC tours. IRCTC offers general and customised LTC packages to Government employees. All IRCTC tours qualify for LTC travel.

vi. Domestic Air packages: IRCTC operated various Domestic Air packages from all the Zones to various destinations like Shirdi, Goa, Delhi, Tirupati, Gangtok, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Andaman and Nicobar, Ladakh, Srinagar, Mumbai, Puri, Konark, Ayodhya and more. During FY 2023-24, IRCTC operated 598 Domestic Air packages and provided services to 12,122 passengers.

IRCTC provides accidental insurance coverage of H 10 lakhs to every passenger who makes booking for IRCTC Domestic packages.

2. Inbound Tourist Targeted Tours

i. Maharajas’ Express:

Maharajas' Express has created a brand image for IRCTC in the field of luxury tourism in the international arena. Since its launch in the year 2010, Maharajas' Express has been awarded as the World's leading Luxury Tourist Train on several occasions right from the year 2012 to 2018 at the World Travel Awards. Maharajas' Express was also awarded with Seven Stars 2022 in the category "Luxury Hospitality and Life style Awards" in November 2022 and Asia's leading Luxury Train Award 2023 by World Travel Awards.

Maharajas' Express operates on four different itineraries out of which three itineraries are of 6 Nights/ 7 Days and one of 3 Nights/ 4 Days which cover places like Udaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Jaipur, Ranthambore, Agra, Khajuraho and Varanasi. The itineraries have been uploaded with departure dates on the website of the train www.the-maharaias.com . The train is operated during the tourist season September to April.

During the FY 2023-24, IRCTC operated 26 trips for 995 tourists (paid passengers), as compared to, 23 trips for 975 tourists (paid passengers) in FY 2022- 23.

iii. Deluxe Tourist Train : IRCTC has been operating the new rake of Deluxe Tourist Trains with International level features like Two Dining Cars, Vacuum Bio-toilets, Air Suspension springs, Security lockers, modified 2AC coaches with side seating facility, On-board housekeeping and security, CCTV camera security, accidental insurance facility, Foot massager and Mini library, etc. This rake is utilised for operating Buddhist Circuit Tour, which is under operations since 2007. The Buddhist tour is of duration of 7 Nights and 8 Days package covering all major Buddhist Pilgrim locations in India and Lumbini in Nepal.

ii. Golden Chariot: Golden Chariot, the only Luxury train being operated in South India by Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation, was taken over by IRCTC for marketing, operations and maintenance for a period of 10 years through an Agreement signed between the two organisations in 19^th November, 2019 with physical possession of the train by IRCTC in January, 2020.

 

During FY 2023- 24, IRCTC operated 04 trips of Buddhist circuit Tours with 218 tourists against 01 trip with 44 tourists in FY 2022- 23.

IRCTC has been working to increase the utilization of Deluxe Tourist Train by operating itineraries including Buddhist Special as well as Ramayana Circuit, North East Circuit, Garvi Gujarat etc. In FY 2023-24, IRCTC operated 11 trip with 1592 passengers whereas, in FY 2022-23, IRCTC operated 05 trips with 833 passengers on-board.

iv. Outbound Tour Packages: IRCTC has

formulated various tour packages covering destinations outside India. During FY 2023-24, IRCTC operated 81 tours and provided services to 2,299 passengers whereas, in FY 2022-23, IRCTC operated 95 outbound packages and provided services to 3,195 tourists.

The itineraries and departure dates of the train for the season 2023-24 and 2024-25 have already been announced and published on the official website www.goldenchariot. org. Three itineraries viz. Pride of Karnataka (5 Nights/6 Days), Jewels of South (5 Nights/6 Days) and Glimpses of Karnataka (3 Nights/4 Days) have been planned various destinations in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Goa.

3. Air Ticketing and Corporate Travel

i.    Online Air ticketing: IRCTC's air-ticketing micro

site www.air.irctc.co.in provides online booking facility of Domestic as well as International Air-tickets at very competitive prices with the lowest

convenience fee as compared to other portals of Online Travel Agents (OTA) in the market.

Mobile app of IRCTC facilitates the booking of air tickets on the go for Android and iOS users. The average number of air ticket booked per day through IRCTC during FY 2023-24 was 5,166 as compared to 5,322 in FY 2022- 23. IRCTC also provides complimentary travel insurance coverage of H50 lakhs to passengers of all the booking made through IRCTC web page and App.

ii. Corporate Travel Business: IRCTC offers complete Travel Solutions for Corporate, which includes air ticketing, booking of domestic (including LTC tickets), as well as international tickets, hotel bookings, Visa facilitation, Insurance etc. IRCTC has decentralised this business at Zonal level to make more tie-ups with PSUs/ Ministries/ Government Departments, etc. and better co-ordination with the organisations. IRCTC has tie-ups with more than 280 PSUs/ Ministries/ Government Departments and institutions for providing corporate travel services.

4. Mass Tourism

i.    Bharat Gaurav Trains: IRCTC has initialised the

operation of Bharat Gaurav trains across India with the procured LHB rakes provided by Indian Railways for promotion of Rail based tourism in domestic market at reasonable price. With the change of policy issued by Railway Board, all tourist trains are operated under "Bharat Gaurav Policy”. IRCTC has 10 rakes for operation of Bharat Gaurav trains across India and one additional rake of Karnataka Govt is also managed & operated by IRCTC. In FY 202324, IRCTC operated 75 Bharat Gaurav train tours and provided services to 42,255 number of passengers in comparison of 10 trips and service to 5,330 passengers (including 03 tours operated for Karnataka Govt.) in FY 2022-23.

ii. State Tirth Special tours:

a) State Special tours by Trains: IRCTC operates the state special tourist train tours in collaboration with various state governments. The government selects the beneficiaries of the tour package who are mostly senior citizens. These train tours cover various destinations of tourist and pilgrim importance across India. In FY 2023-24, IRCTC operated 95 State Special Trains for Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Chhattisgarh& Odisha Government carrying 70,213 tourists to various pilgrim places. Whereas in FY 2022-23, IRCTC operated 96 State Special trains for Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Goa, Odisha & Jharkhand and provided services to 94,508 passengers.

b) State Special tours by Air: For the very first time, IRCTC operated State Special tours for elderly residents of state through Air. These air tours were organised for Rajasthan State Government ex- Jaipur to Kathmandu on regular basis as well as ex- Bhopal/ Indore to Mathura/ Vrindavan-Gangasagar- Varanasi- Shirdi. In FY 2324, IRCTC operated 87 tours for total 8,291 passengers.

5. IRCTC Corporate Trains:

During FY 2023-24, IRCTC operated Corporate Trains on regular basis (i.e. 6 days a week) and is successful in placing it as a unique train among general public. ADI-MMCT Tejas operated with 95% occupancy level and LJN-NDLS Tejas operated with 70% occupancy levels. IRCTC is trying to increase the occupancy level by offering various options to passengers like Advance Reservation Period (ARP) of 120 days, lean & peak season pricing to attract passengers, etc.

b. IRCTC operated Yuva Sangam tours-an initiative by Government of India under “Ek Bharat Shresth Bharat” scheme to strengthen people to people connect especially between youth belonging to various States/UTs. IRCTC successfully conducted 54 tours and provided service to around 2650 participants.

i. Election Special Trains: IRCTC has been nominated as Single window for booking and movement of Election Special Trains alongwith provision of on-board catering services to the forces on movement. IRCTC operated 542 election special trains and provided services to 4,93,944 para-military forces during FY 202324 as compared to 244 Election Special Trains in FY 2022-23 in connection with assembly elections of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Odisha, Goa and Delhi .

6. Special Purpose Tours:

i.    Educational Tours: IRCTC operates educational tours for students under its “travel to learn” scheme and has tie-ups with various State Governments as well as private schools for operating educational tours for their students. During the year 2023-24, IRCTC has operated various education tours as:

a. Special educational train tour such as “College on Wheels” was operated for Jammu & Kashmir University to various parts of India like Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Goa, Wardha, Nagpur, etc. ex- Shree Mata Vaishno deve Katra with 762 students & faculties.

ii.    Cultural Exchange tours: IRCTC operated the following Cultural Exchange tours in FY 2023- 24 as:

a. Tamil Kashi Samagam 2.0 was operated from Chennai to Ayodhya- Kashi -Prayagraj and service was provided to 1,512 participants.

7. Other Tourism Activities

i.    Event Management: IRCTC has been organizing various Conferences, Events and Incentive packages for Indian Railways, PSUs, Education Department and other prominent institutions. During FY 2023-24, IRCTC conducted 19 Events and provided services to 13,411 beneficiaries as compared to 5 Events in FY 2022-23 for 180 beneficiaries.

ii.    Logistic Business: IRCTC ventured into Cargo / Logistics Sector for offering transportation and supply chain management solutions to Government Organizations and targeting both domestic and international freight business. IRCTC is awarded work by BSF, MoD Headquarter and Ordinance Factory Khamaria.

iii.    Booking of Charter Trains and Coaches:

Ministry of Railways nominated IRCTC as the single window agency for online booking of all trains and coaches on charter basis. The online booking of FTR Trains/ coaches is done through IRCTC's exclusive web page, www.ftr. irctc.co.in/ftr.IRCTC also provides list of trains where coaches can be added to facilitate the customer, which is updated on regular basis. During FY 2023-24, 576 (187 trains & 389 coaches) charter trains/ coaches were booked through IRCTC, whereas in FY 2022-23, 539 (140 trains and 399 coaches) charters were booked through IRCTC.

iv.    Hill and Heritage Charters: IRCTC actively promotes the 5 Hill Railways of India viz Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR), Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), Kalka-Shimla Railway, Kangra Valley Railway and Matheran Railway. IRCTC operates hill charters over Kalka-Shimla, Nilgiri

Mountain Railway and Darjeeling Himalayan Railways UNESCO’s “World Heritage Sites".

 

v. Luxurious Railway Saloon Car: Ministry of Railways has entrusted IRCTC with the task of marketing and booking of Saloon Cars across India, which is now open to be booked by any passenger or company as special rail products.

A Saloon Car generally has a living room, two air-conditioned bedrooms - one twin bedroom and the other similar to AC First Class coupe with attached baths, dining area and a kitchen.

Optional services like in-house attendant, catering, pick and drop are arranged as per demand of tourists. During FY 2023-24, IRCTC successfully operated 80 Saloon Cars across India.

 

vi. Online booking of Retiring Rooms at Stations and Hotel Booking: IRCTC provides the convenience of booking of retiring rooms online to Railway passengers having confirmed PNR across 387 Railway stations through IRCTC tourism portal. Passengers can also book Retiring Rooms on the go on Android and iOS mobile through IRCTC App.

Hourly booking is also available at 65 stations. At present, about 80% of total retiring room bookings of Indian Railways are being done online.

 

IRCTC has upgraded Retiring Rooms at 14 stations viz. Kacheguda (KCG), Nanded (NED), Parbhani (PBN),Kazipet (KZJ),Guntur (GNT),Karwar (KAWR),Udupi (UD),Dahod (DHD),Kakinada (CCT),Varanasi (BSB),Hosapete (HPT), Ayodha Dham (AY), Araku (ARK),Thanjavur (TJ) under PPP model and booking has been made online in 2023-24. The upgraded retiring rooms have hotel like facilities such as fully Air-conditioned rooms with Wifi, TV, Geyser, linen, sofas etc.

During FY 2023-24, total bookings for Retiring Rooms was 8.04 lakhs with a total revenue of H48.43 Crores as against 6.23 lakh bookings with revenue of H38.83 Crores in FY 2022-23.

vii.    Online Hotel Booking: IRCTC has direct integration with accommodation partners (Hotels, Home stays, Dormitories, paying Guest Houses, Yatri Nivas, Holiday Homes, etc.) for online booking through www.hotels. irctc.co.in and IRCTC Tourism mobile apps -Android and iOS.

Further to boost hotel business, IRCTC has also carried out integrated with Hotel Aggregator to widen the range of hotel inventory on IRCTC’s Hotel website. Customers now can book more than 70,000 hotels across 2,773 cities with starting tariff as low as H 300. Most of the hotels are located near Railway Stations, Airports and city centers.

In 2023-24, there were 12,290 bookings with total revenue of H 4.14 Crores as against 10667 bookings with total revenue of H 2.67 Crores during FY 2022-23.

viii.    Booking of Tickets in Special Trains for ‘Meri Maati Mera Desh (MMMD) campaign organised by Ministry of Culture, Govt. of

India: Ministry of Culture, Government of India has launched Meri Maati Mera Desh (MMMD) campaign as a part of closing ceremony of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ in August- September 23, encouraging people from each district/ village to take part in Amrit Kalash Yatras. Soil and rice from villages were collected in Amrit Kalash which were then sent to Blocks and from Block level to the capital city of the respective state/ UT. Furthermore, the Amrit Kalash from across the country was transported to Delhi from 28^th - 30^th October for the culmination of the campaign.

As per the directions of Ministry of Culture, IRCTC booked tickets in special trains to facilitate movement of Amrit Kalash from across the country to Delhi. Accordingly, total 2704 PNRs were booked for 16,147 passengers

in 20 Special Trains amounting to H 1.82 Cr in October - November 2023.

ix. Aastha Special Trains to Ayodhya:

Ministry of Railways decided to run special Aastha Trains as a tourism project to sociocultural destination Ayodhya from across India. Booking of tickets was done through the IRCTC Tourism Portal with round-trip ticketing. A special ticketing application was developed on the portal for easy booking in a record time.

The Aastha Train operations commenced on January 28, 2024. IRCTC issued region-wise color-coded ID card cum tickets which were printed by concerned IRCTC’s Zones and handed over to the Organisations/ passengers.

x. Online Bus booking: Since January 2021, IRCTC’s dedicated Bus Portal www.bus. irctc.co.in provides online ticket booking to its customers and also facilitates last mile connectivity, where trains and flight services are not available. Presently, online bus booking can be done across 27 states and 7 UTs. During FY 2023-24, total 1,95,416 passengers availed the online bus booking service with total no. of TIDs booked during FY: 2023-24 as 1,26,015. On an average about 345 bus tickets were booked per day through IRCTC’s Bus Portal during FY 2023-24 as against 300 tickets booked per day during FY 2022-23.

As compared to FY 2022-23, during FY 2023-24, the portal registered an increase of 19% in passengers travelled and 23% in revenue generated.

Going ahead in this direction, IRCTC signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSTRC) on 13^th September 2023 to enable MSRTC's online bus booking services via IRCTC's bus booking portal/website to enhance passengers’ experience by allowing them to simplify their travel arrangements from a single point and giving the passengers, advantage of seamless access of last-mile connectivity via IRCTC Bus Booking Portal, ensuring a smooth journey.

Communication with passengers and team/ coach leaders was done through WhatsApp and SMS channels. Additionally, for the first time in the Railways, IRCTC has issued cutting-edge blockchain-based Non-Fungible Token (NFT) Digital tickets cum Memorabilia through SMS and WhatsApp. These digital tickets act as a souvenir and allow pilgrims to upload photos and share their experiences on social media.

A total of 337 Aastha Trains were operated, carrying over 4.5 lakh pilgrims. The trains originated from 22 states and 03 UTs. The operation of Aastha Trains has been immensely successful among the pilgrims with a customer satisfaction rating of 4.59 out of 5. For Aastha trains, the ticketing system was fully developed by IRCTC internal team. For the first time in Indian Railways, blockchain based dynamic NFT (NonFungible Token) was issued as tickets with the theme of the pilgrimage.

The Aastha Train initiative has been a success, strengthening national unity through pilgrimage while showcasing the government's commitment to Swachh Bharat, Digital India, and effective citizen service.

The exchange of MoU Folders between CMD/IRCTC and Principal Secretary/Transport in the August Presence of Hon'bte Chief Minister, Maharashtra - Shri Eknath Shinde.

xi. IRCTC Mobile Apps:

In a step towards promoting IRCTC products, the company has its user-friendly Travel and Tourism Mobile Apps for Android and iOS users. It hosts various products & services like Bus, Flights, Hotels, Retiring Room, Lounge, Tour Packages, Bharat Gaurav, Cruise, Buddhist Train, Maharajas, Golden Chariot, National

xiii. Trains at a Glance (TAG): The Trains at a Glance - time table of Indian Railways with a high readership gives detailed information about routes, timings of important passenger trains, premium trains; other details, which are handy for rail travel such as reservation procedures, rules and regulation of travelling, passenger amenities on trains and in stations including catering, menu types and rates, and also about rail-based tourism. IRCTC has been entrusted with the work of printing and publishing of TAG.

Rail Museum, Trains at a Glance, Train Tickets, Heliyatra& Digital Memories.

 

xii. Tourism Portal:

Realising the potential of Online Travel Agency, IRCTC’s upgraded tourism portal www.irctctourism.com offers on-line booking of Tourist Trains, Air tickets, Tour packages be it through rail, air or land, Hotel, Saloon Cars, AC Tourist Trains, Event Management, etc. To be at par with the user friendliness and facilities which other OTAs offer, IRCTC has revamped its tourism website.

During FY 2023-24, total 10,23,785 transaction IDs (TIDs) were generated for 23,17,989 passengers with a revenue of H 773.68 Cr, in comparison to 8,15,630 transaction IDs (TIDs) for 18,08,548 passengers with the revenue of H 537.24 Cr in FY 2022-23.

Ministry of Railways has released the 44^th edition of Trains at a Glance for the customers, which has been dedicated to the service of the nation in October, 2023.

During FY 2023-24, a total of 2540 TAGs were delivered at the doorsteps of the customers.

Trains at a Glance - 2023 is also available in digital format as “E-Book". During FY 2023-24, a of total 4549 E-Books (English and Hindi) were subscribed.

xiv. Indian Railway Magazines: Since its launch in 2020, IRCTC’s segment of online platform for booking of two Annual Railway Magazines (both in English & Hindi) - Indian Railways & Bhartiya Rail has enhanced the reach of magazine to prospective readers owing to digitalization.

During FY 2023-24, total TIDs generated was 504 with revenue of H 1.57 lakhs.

Made live on 29.02.2024, these magazines are also being booked in digital format as

“e-Magazine” and have garnered good response from the subscribers.

xv.    Online Ticketing for National Rail Museum (NRM): IRCTC manages Online Ticketing System of National Rail Museum (NRM), Chanakyapuri, New Delhi by facilitating visitors, who wish to book their online tickets in advance through website (www.nrmindia.org) for visiting Museum, and for different Rides. Institutional Bookings by Schools & other Institutions are also enabled in the system.

Ticket booking can be made via multiple payment modes, i.e., Credit/Debit cards, Net banking, Wallets, UPI, etc. Further, counter bookings are also enabled with POS machines for digital payments.

QR codes enabled tickets can be scanned through the Mobile App provided to the Ticket checking staff at the different counters for facilitating the easy entry of visitors.

During FY 2023-24, 81,921 tickets were booked with a transaction value of H 2,52,47,922 as compared to 63,574 tickets booked with a transaction value of H 2,18,99,590.

xvi.    Shri Kedarnath Heliyatra Ticketing System:

As per the signed MoU between IRCTC and UCADA (Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority) for providing Helicopter ticket booking system for passengers to visit Shri Kedarnath Dham, IRCTC has developed the Helicopter ticketing website www.heliyatra. irctc.co.in and has successfully launched online Helicopter ticket booking from 08.04.2023 for a tenure of 5 years.

The online ticketing system for Helicopter service to visit the Holy Shrine of Shri Kedarnath Dham by the pilgrims, is a prestigious project for IRCTC, which is unique with complexities and multiple variations. IRCTC will be handling administrative & Technical operations, Payment Gateway accounting/ reconciliation, etc.

During FY 2023-24, a total of 83,714 tickets were booked for 1,92,551 pilgrims, with total transaction value of H121 Cr., and out of which IRCTC’s Convenience Fees amounted to H5.38 Cr. (Excl. GST).

Future Strategy:

Being a tourism arm of Indian Railways, in initial phases,

IRCTC has developed and promoted more of Rail based

tourism products. But to manage the competition in the

market, IRCTC also launched and operated various

non- rail based tourism products. With this extremely diversified tourism product lines, there is tremendous scope of growth in the field of tourism and it is seen that as per the projection given by WTTC (World Travel & Tourism Council), the tourism business will grow by 5.1% approx. (compound annual growth rate) in next 10 years (2023- 2033).

IRCTC has been adding new ventures into his cap by launching more Rail was well as non-rail based tourism products to further enhance and consolidate tourism business in the coming years.

IRCTC has been mandated to promote domestic tourism with launch of "Bharat Gaurav Trains” which are also being used for operation of State Special tourist trains. Also to promote International Tourism, more of outbound tour packages are being launched.

IRCTC has total 10 Bharat Gaurav rakes, which has been utilised to promote domestic tourism across India and operation of 01 rake of Karnataka Govt is also managed by IRCTC. The composition of the rakes has been kept with minimum composition of 14 coaches.

However, specific thrust of the company areas identified now for the coming financial year 2024-25 are:

i.    Bharat Gaurav Trains: IRCTC has initialised the operation of Bharat Gaurav trains across India with the procured LHB rakes provided by Indian Railways for promotion of Rail based tourism in Domestic market at reasonable price. It is expected that IRCTC will operate more than 200 tours in FY 2024-25 including State Special Train Tours.

ii.    Rail Tour Packages: To give a boost to Rail based tourism, IRCTC has plan to launch more and more pilgrimage and leisure based tourism packages in addition to make in concerted efforts to increase the occupancy of existing rail tour packages.

iii.    Customised Holiday packages: One the basis of demand of customers, IRCTC will plan and develop more customized packages for small groups of family and friends, which will give variety to customers.

iv.    Outbound tours: Destination Management Companies (DMCs) are being engaged to provide competitively priced packages with quality deliverables in the land arrangements for outbound tours.

v.    Domestic Air Packages: Special thrust has been given for this segment and the plan is to increase the business tremendously. Like to outbound tours, all zones have been given stiff target on number of trips to be operated as well as on number of tourists to be carried.

vi.    State Special tours by Air: State Government of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh has planned to operate State Special trains through IRCTC. IRCTC will operate State Special Tours and also co-ordinate with other States to operate such packages from their states too.

vii.    Online Hotel Business: A revamp of Hotel Business is being envisage in terms of website design, prospective collaborations with more partners and focus marketing/promotional activities.

viii.    MICE: IRCTC is foraying into the segment of MICE by strengthening the panel of back-end service provider as well as targeting more and more corporate to patronize IRCTC.

c. INTERNET TICKETING

Since its launch in 2002 and after more than two decades of unparalleled progress, IRCTC’s website is the largest e-commerce website in Asia Pacific region. The growth of this platform has enabled the common man, to reap the benefits of new technology, making online ticketing more accessible, convenient and affordable. Through IRCTC internet ticketing website and mobile app, people can book tickets from the comfort of their homes, offices etc. eliminating the need to physically visit the PRS counter, saving time, and reducing the hassle.

IRCTC pioneered internet-based rail ticket booking through its Website and Mobile App which accounted for 82.68% of the total reserved tickets booked online on Indian Railways in 2023-24, which is likely to further increase through AI based booking, seamless payment methods on single platform.

The site offers round-the-clock ticket booking services, except for a 35-minute break from 23:45 hrs to 00:20 hrs. In the financial year 2023-24, the IRCTC Website and Mobile App recorded an average daily ticket sale of 12.38 lakh tickets, representing an increase of 5% from the previous financial year's average of 11.82 lakh tickets. These numbers highlight the system's impressive growth and ascendancy in the Indian e-commerce space.

Convenience Fee

IRCTC collects Convenience Fee on e-ticket bookings at the rate of H 15/- + GST per ticket for Non-AC Classes and H 30/-+ GST per ticket for AC Classes (including First Class/FC). For those users, who make online payment for e-tickets through BHIM/UPI payment mode, Convenience Fee is charged at a reduced rate @ H 10/- + GST per ticket for Non- AC Classes and H 20/- + GST per ticket for AC Classes (including First Class), to promote digital payments, thereby fulfilling the Digital India mission of the Government of India.

Internet ticketing through Ask Disha Chatbot

 

Since its launch on 31^st March, 2022, Ask DISHA Chatbot (Digital Interaction to Seek Help Anytime) has heralded a revolutionary paradigm shift in IRCTC e-ticketing . This ArtificaI Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) based innovative system marks a significant improvement over traditional methods. This cutting-edge feature has streamlined the booking process and enhanced the user experience. The booking growth of Ask DISHA itself proclaims the success and bright future ahead.

Booking of Ask Disha Chatbot

 

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It is highly anticipated that above trend will continue to proliferate and shape the future of IRCTC e-ticketing in future with modern cutting edge technologies.

Overview

i.    Internet Ticketing: With a transaction volume of more than

37.75 million per month and 6.91 million logins per day, the Company operates as one of the most highly populated and transacted websites in the Asia-Pacific region. During FY 2023-2024, on an average 12.38 lakh tickets per day were booked online for approx 22 Lakh passengers per day for travelling on Indian Railways, which comprises of approximately 82.68% of Indian Railways’ reserved tickets booked online.

 

ii. NGeT System: The Next Generation E-Ticketing (NGeT) System was implemented as a replacement for the previous e-ticketing system. It has increased the per-minute ticket booking capacity from 2000 to 7200 tickets, significantly improving the system's efficiency. In addition, a state-of-the-art data center has been setup in CRIS premises at Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, to support the upgraded system, increase the capacity and inflow of daily bookings which is regularly updated to keep up with technological advancements. The Company has a strong customer database and leverages the same to cross sell and add value to its products to enhance customer engagement and derive top-line growth.

The NGeT System has capacity to book over 28,000 tickets per minute, making it one of the most efficient online ticketing systems globally. However, IRCTC has achieved Highest ticket booking record of 28,434 tickets in a minute.

Year Wise e-Tickets Booked (in Lakhs)

5000 140% ___ 140% 4,313 4,530
4000 3500 -15% 6% 3000 18% 2,842 3,019 ^ 9% 5% 2,466 2500 12% 1,993 2,093 -42% 21% 12/0 1,830 1740 2000 20% .2':° 1,580 1740 1500 63% 35% 1,162 1,407 63% 969 100 0 177% 133% 720 500 266% 76% 101% 165% l1''8/%> 441 500 2 7 13 26 68 189	Â
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The NGeT System's outstanding performance and success is another break through to the IRCTC's commitment to innovation and technological advancement. The magnificent growth, efficiency, and seamless experience have enabled millions of people to access affordable and convenient online ticketing service, further solidifying its status as a leading e-commerce website.

iii. IRCTC Rail Connect Mobile App e-ticketing: During FY 2023- 24, average mobile ticket booking was 6.35 Lakhs per day, with 12.20 Crore downloads on the Mobile App and Daily Mobile Logins as 51.77 Lakhs. During FY 2023-24, more than 2322 lakh tickets were booked using Mobile App, as against 2042 Lakh tickets booked in FY 2022-23. IRCTC Rail Connect Mobile is one of the top most rated Mobile App of India in Google play store.

Rail Connect Mobile App is available on both Android and iOS platforms.

Mobile App Booking Share (in Lakhs)

5000 4500	Â							Â	4,313		Â	4,530
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Â	2,842 3,019						Â			Â			Â
3000	2,466				Â	Â	Â			Â			51% 2,322
1,830 1,993 2,0			93	Â	Â	Â	46% 1,915			4 2	7% 04 -2	70 2	- -
1500 1000 500 0 20	Â	Â	Â	Â	Â	47% 1,740 1,415	Â	22	Â			Â
	Â	Â	Â	Â	36% 1,023	46%			Â			Â
	1%	4%	6%	20% 484	Â	808			Â			Â
	15	75	130	Â	Â	1			Â			Â
	14-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-								2022			3 2023-24

iv. IRCTC i-Pay - Payment Aggregator: IRCTC’s own Digital Payment Gateway- IRCTC i-Pay (A PCI-DSS Compliant Payment Solution) is one-stop payment solution facilitates payments through all payment modes (like Internet Banking, Debit Card, Credit Card, Wallets, UPI Account & Autopay) and for safe and secure transaction between the merchant website, multiple issuing institutions, acquiring banks and the payment gateway providers. During FY 2023- 24, i-Pay has generated a revenue of H 114.54 Crores with growth of 19.33% in comparison of revenue of H 95.99 Crores in FY 2022-23.

IPay Revenue Report

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Â					Â
Â	Â	472.62			Â
400.00	Â	397.02		Â	Â
31 300.00	).£ Y 2	6	Â	Â	Â
Â		209.87	Â	Â	Â
100.00		1	Â	95.99	114.54
10.43 2.57		35.49 21.39	52.88	Â	Â
FY 2018-19 F		019-20 FY 2020-21 FY 2021-22 FY 2022-23 FY 2023-24

Transactions (in Lakhs) I Pay Revenue (J in Cr.)

v.    New User Interface (UI): IRCTC has been constantly contributing to enhance the customer experience and convenience while booking reserved rail e-tickets through its Website and Rail Connect Mobile App with the aim of retaining its customer base. Keeping in mind the same, IRCTC had launched the New User Interface of e-ticketing Website and Mobile App with modified functionalities and some additional features. Revamping of IRCTC e-ticketing user interface was a Digital India initiative, which promises to transform the service delivery experience offered to travellers. Further, the New Interface for e-ticketing enhances user personalisation and facilitation of the IRCTC Website www.irctc.co.in and the IRCTC Rail Connect Mobile Apps (Android & iOS: Platforms) with user-friendly features and more comfortable navigation, which is secured with advanced data systems and processes. The look-and-feel of the interface is being changed with time, with a simplified and appealing design.

vi.    IRCTC Payment System: Payment options and successful transaction rates are critical for the success of the e-commerce industry. IRCTC over the years has developed and nurtured a robust system of payment gateways with various payment options such as Net Banking, Credit Card, Debit Card, BHIM/UPI, Multiple Payment Provider, Pay-Later, EMI among others for the IRCTC website application and other dedicated web applications and App. Even, foreign users can book tickets using their International Credit Card (Issued outside India) on the available Payment Gateways provided by Atom Technologies, PayU-MPP, Razorpay-MPP and

Pine Lab (Powered by Plural) along with other Multiple Payment Options.

The transactions on IRCTC’s website are completely safe and have been certified by VISA, VeriSign, RuPay, American Express, Safe Key, mVisa, UPI and Master Secure etc. Bank Account or Card Account details of users are not saved in the servers of IRCTC at the time of booking tickets, thereby ensuring prevention of any misuse.

vii. Tatkal Scheme for Reserved Tickets: The Tatkal charges have been fixed as a percentage of fares at the rate of 10% of the basic fare for second class and 30% of the basic fare for all other classes subject to minimum and maximum limits. Tatkal tickets are issued for the actual distance of travel, instead of end-to-end, subject to the distance restrictions applicable to the train. The same Tatkal berth/seat may be booked in multiple legs till preparation of the charts. At the time of preparation of charts, the unutilised ones are released to the General RAC/Waiting list passengers. Tatkal facility is also available in the Executive Class of Shatabdi Express trains by earmarking 10% of the accommodation available i.e. 5 seats per coach. Tatkal booking opens at 10 AM for AC Classes and 11 AM for Non-AC Classes. Tatkal tickets can be booked one day in advance from the train originating station excluding the date of journey of enroute stations. The scheme is available on www.irctc.co.in and IRCTC Rail Connect Mobile App where customers can book tickets on the Tatkal scheme seamlessly.

viii.    VIKALP Scheme: Travellers who have been put on the waiting list, irrespective of a booking quota or concessions, can choose maximum five trains under this scheme. It does not confirm a berth, since it depends on the availability of seats in the given train. There is no refund or extra fare charged for these changed trains, including the Tatkal prices. Either all passengers of a PNR opting for this scheme will be transferred to alternate trains in the same class or none will. Once confirmed in an alternate train, the cancellation charges apply as per the usual rules. A person can be transferred to any train available within the window as per selection made by the user. The train list once selected under VIKALP can be changed or updated only once.

ix.    Loyalty Program: IRCTC offers co-branded credit card to customers with SBI Bank of Baroda and HDFC Bank on the indigenous RuPay platform. The passengers may book their tickets and purchase other goods from market using IRCTC Cobranded Credit Card. On IRCTC portal, the passenger on booking of Rail tickets, earns loyalty points, which in turn can be redeemed at IRCTC’s e-ticketing website to book rail tickets. These cards when used at IRCTC’s e-ticketing website, extends benefit by giving 1% waiver on payment gateway charges.

During FY 2023-24 revenue of H 39.54 Crores was generated from this segment as against H 37.52 Crores earned in FY 2022-23. There are 10.12 Lakh active card holders in this scheme which also includes 4.33 Lakh card holders of Credit Card on RuPay platform.

x.    BHIM/UPI Payment Mode: During FY 2023-24, total BHIM/UPI transactions were 1806.12 which is 39.87% of total online ticketing as against 1454.71 transactions in FY 2022-23.

xi.    Travel Insurance: IRCTC introduced the travel insurance for Indian citizens who use the IRCTC website application to book their tickets. The travel insurance provides accidental coverage to passengers during their travel with the Indian Railways. In case of an accident due to collision between trains, derailing of the train carrying passengers or any other kind of train accident, the passengers or the nominee can claim compensation. The coverage of the policy is on a PNR basis and includes death, permanent total disability, permanent partial disability as well as hospitalisation charges. This travel insurance, up to H 10 lakhs, is provided to passengers who opt for it by paying a premium H 0.45 per passenger. During the fiscal year, a total of 46.55 Crores passengers have opted for Travel Insurance.

xii.    Concessional Bookings: The concessional booking facility is available for Journalists and Divyang (physically challenged) passengers for booking of online tickets on IRCTC’s Website and Mobile Apps using ID cards provided by the Indian Railways.

xiii.    Online Booking for Railway Pass Holders: Online booking of Reserved Rail ticket, using the Railway Pass has been implemented for Railway employees who are in service. Convenience Fee and Travel Insurance is not applicable for these bookings. During FY 2023-24, 33.67 lakh tickets were booked online using Railway Pass/PTOs as compared to 27.40 lakh tickets in FY 2022-23.

xiv.    E-ticketing Portal for Para Military Forces: IRCTC’s e-ticketing facility has proved to be an extremely convenient tool for the Paramilitary Forces for handling their reserved train e-ticket requirements. It has also eliminated the need for cumbersome manual processes of railway warrant management, the reconciliation and accounting between Indian Railways and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

IRCTC has developed a dedicated website to maintain the e-ticketing system along with the Warrant Management System for booking of e-tickets through this portal for travel in trains in a hassle-free manner. As a result, there is continuous growth in ticket booking. During FY 2023-24, total 10.68 lakh tickets were booked through paramilitary forces, which is 18.85% more, as against 8.99 tickets booked in FY 2022-23.

Presently IRCTC is serving Seven Central Paramilitary Forces, namely, NSG, CRPF, NDRF, AR, CISF, BSF and ITBP.

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Â	2,57,042 |	Paramilitary Booking	Â
Â	¦	In FY 2023-2024	75,867
Â	Â	Â	W
¦ CRPF		¦ AR	f
¦ CISF		¦ ITBP	Â
¦ NDRF		¦ BSF	Â
¦ NSG		Â	Â

xv. Data & Cyber Security: The Company relies on state-of-the-art technologies to ensure that the confidentiality, integrity and availability of all its online services and its data are adequately secured from the prevailing cyber security threats. The Company safeguards its data with advanced security systems and successfully defends the system against malicious virus or other cyber threats.

IRCTC’s E-Ticketing System is a well-protected system, equipped with industry-standard state-of-the-art security technologies for protection from cyber threats and data theft. This includes Network Firewalls, Network Intrusion Prevention System and Web Application Firewalls, DDoS Protection Services etc. The website runs on an Extended Validation (EV) SSL/TLS Certificate that provides end-to-end data encryption between the website and its users. Sensitive data like user passwords are stored in encrypted form in the database. In continuous efforts to improve the security posture of NGeT System, IRCTC has engaged CERT-In empanelled Security Auditor for Bi-Annual Cyber Security Audit of Applications and ICT infrastructure.

All online payment integration, including net banking and Credit/Debit Card are implemented on the URL-redirection model wherein all users are redirected to concerned banks/payment gateway websites for the on-line payment process, fully eliminating any chance of Credit/Debit card data leakage at the IRCTC end.

The company has deployed a number of security solutions viz. Web Application Firewalls, Privileged Identity Management, Secure Email Gateway and Malware Sandboxing solutions, DDoS Protection Services (Clean Pipe Services) etc. with the objective of enhancing its cyber security posture for its Travel & Tourism and Catering services. A Vulnerability Management Solution has been deployed by IRCTC for overview of vulnerabilities in its environment and timely remediation of same.

In order to provide secure and reliable remote access to its enterprise applications for its workforce, a Zero-Trust based Secure Access Solution with multi-factor authentication capability has been implemented. The solution will allow IRCTC workforce to safely log in to corporate applications and desktops any-time any-where and to access private applications/systems they need to be efficient and productive.

Information Security Policies, including Privacy Policy, of IRCTC are uploaded on IRCTC Corporate Portal (under Employee Login). The web link is not available publicly.

Internet Ticketing Statistics

a. No. of E-Tickets and Passengers Booked: A total of 4529.83 lakh tickets have been booked in 2023-24 as compared to 4313 lakhs tickets in 2022-23. In total, 8025.06 lakh passengers booked E-Tickets in 2023-24 as compared to 7706.40 lakh passengers in 2022-23

b. The ratio of Passenger to Ticket during the year was 1.77:1.

Tickets Vs Passengers

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0 ^ No of Passengers		16% 1,830	J Total Tic		Â	Â	Â	Â

c. E-ticketing fare Collection: During the year 2023-24, an amount of H 61,736.71 crores was collected as Ticket Fare from the users as E-ticketing revenue, which is 13.67% more than the last year’s collection of H 54,313.46 crores.

Year Wise e-Ticketing Fare Collected (J in Cr.)

60000 40000 20000

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d. Growth of Online Reserved Rail Ticketing

Year Wise e-Tickets Booked (in Lakhs)

5000 3% 3% 4,530 140% 4,313 4,530
4,174	Â
3500 6%	Â
3500 15% 3 019 3000 18% 2,842	Â
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2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24

e. Segment-wise Online Ticket Booking Share 2023-24

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e-Ticket Booking		2,322.32
FY 2023-24		j 51% IRCTC Mobile App Normal User
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New Initiatives Taken During 2023-24

Integrated Railway Helpline & Enquiry System (IRHES-139):

The Integrated Railway Helpline & Enquiry System (IRHES-139) is a comprehensive service that offers railway information and assistance to passengers facing any issues. IRCTC has upgraded the service with advance technological features. The system employs IVRS with Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), powered by Natural Language Understanding (NLU) / Natural Language Processing (NLP), enabling passengers to interact naturally in their mother tongue and supported in 13 Languages - Hindi, English, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Assamese, Punjabi, Oriya, and Urdu.

This innovative approach incorporates APIs from PRS, NGeT, UTS, Rail Madad, NTES, and more, without utilizing railway space or incurring additional expenses. The infrastructure is cloud-based (MeitY empaneled) and adheres to ISO 27000 compliance standards for IT security compliance. This ensures scalability and an SLA-based approach, while boasting an impressive 85% automation rate. Approx. 2.5 Lakhs calls are being handled per day, out of which, 14-15 % calls are handled by agents and rest by the AI based IVR system. Approx. 1 Lakh SMSs are being handled every day with approx. 6500 complaints being registered on Rail Madad every day through 139. Calls abandoned rate is registered as approximately 1%.

a)    New services added on IRCTC Website during FY 20232024:

1.    Passengers of Vande Bharat trains can now choose Tea / Coffee as catering option while booking tickets w.e.f. 25.07.2023

2.    Same day refund feature for Rail e-ticketing has been introduced for transactions, whereas amount deducted but ticket not booked.

3.    In Vande Bharat trains, new SMS service has been implemented to confirmed passengers to book meal through link provided via SMS w.e.f. 17-012024. Besides, functionality of sending menu of available meal plans through SMS, Confirmation of meal booking, Failed meal booking, Cancellation of Meal booking & Refund of Cancelled meal booking through SMS and Mails also implemented w.e.f. 21-02-2024.

b)    New services added on IRCTC Rail Connect Mobile

Apps during FY 2023-2024:

1.    Login through Biometric or pattern lock avoiding PIN and without CAPTCHA is started in iOS Mobile App w.e.f. 07-Apr-2023.

2.    Tea/Coffee as food option added in trains as catering service during booking process in Android Mobile App on 26-Jul-23 and on iOS Mobile App on 8-Aug-23.

3.    Integration of Amazon Associates as Advertisement partners for Deals, Offers and Shopping Experience and as Bill Payment and Recharge partners is enabled and product made live on Android Mobile App on 14-Sep-23.

4.    Integration of (Comprehensive Payment Solution) enhanced payment and refund flow implemented on IRCTC Rail Connect Mobile Apps w.e.f. 16-Nov-

2023    due to which success rate of ticket booking and timely refund rate has been improved.

5.    In Vande Bharat trains passengers can book Meals post booking on Mobile Android Apps w.e.f. 11-Jan-

2024    & on Mobile iOS Apps w.e.f. 22-Feb-2024.

6.    Ordering of food using e-Catering services in Mobile iOS Apps started w.e. f. 22-Feb-2024.

Highlights of Internet Ticketing FY 2023-24

1.    IRCTC e-ticketing platform achieved 2^nd highest per minute booking record of 26,672 on 01-March-2024 at 11:02 AM. and 3^rd highest per minute booking record of 25,712 on 08-02-2024 at 10:01 AM.

2.    IRCTC e-ticketing platform achieved highest hourly booking record of 1,85,513 during tatkal hours between

10    A.M. to 11 A.M. on 21-03-2024

3.    IRCTC e-ticketing platform achieved highest hourly booking record of 2,23,193 during tatkal hours between

11    A.M. to 12 Noon on 22-03-2024.

4.    Total number of tickets booked were 4529.83 Lakhs, which is 5.03% more than last year.

5.    Total 12.20 Crore Mobile App (on Android & iOS:) Downloads till 31^st March, 2024.

6.    The average Mobile App bookings during 2023-24 were 6.35 Lakh tickets per day, as compared to 5.60 Lakh tickets in 2022-23. 13.70% of IRCTC e-Tickets have been booked through IRCTC Rail Connect Mobile App during FY 2023-24.

7.    Share of Reserved Rail tickets booked online was 82.68% in 2023-24, as compared to 80.99% of the reserved tickets booked online in 2022-23. There has been continuous increase in online booking share over the years.

8.    Substantial and consistent revenue growth shown in ticket booking through AskDisha Chatbot. During FY 2023-24, total tickets were 11.04 Lakhs (which is 91% in comparison to previous year) and Total Revenue Earned was H 162.21 Crores.

Future Strategy:

IRCTC with its optimistic outlook has planned to bring into its system some new projects which not only promise to promote IRCTC Brand name but also proves the company’s expertise and adaptability to latest innovative technologies in vogue in the market place. At the same time, it is also anticipated

to create new businesses and thereby generate additional revenues for the company. Not only widening its business arena, IRCTC will be using innovative technologies in vogue, for system improvement.

Following are some future projects to be undertaken by Internet Ticketing:

a) Towards One India - One Ticket Initiative (DMRC)

In a significant step towards enhancing the convenience and ease of travel for passengers, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to introduce QR code-based ticketing for DMRC services through the IRCTC portal, as part of ”One India-One Ticket Initiative.” CMD/ IRCTC and MD/DMRC signed the MoU in the presence of senior officials from the Corporations on 14^th August,2023.

Under this partnership, passengers who book online tickets through the IRCTC platform will have the added convenience of seamlessly booking DMRC QR codebased tickets. These DMRC tickets can be issued in sync with the Advance Reservation Period of Indian Railways. By integrating these services, passengers can effortlessly plan their entire journey in one go. The DMRC QR code-based ticket will be seamlessly generated and printed on the Electronic Reservation Slip (ERS) of IRCTC. This integration aims to streamline travel experiences, eliminating the need for passengers to endure long queues and saving valuable time.

b) Diversification of IRCTC as Fintech Company

iPay, being own business initiative of IRCTC, was started as a pilot project in 2018-19 eyeing its usage in IRCTC websites and huge market opportunity in government businesses where IRCTC iPay becomes a good fit and better equipped to provide customized payment service. In the era of digital payments and Government of India’s push to make India a less cash economy, there is an immense gap in the demand and supply for such kind of product. Further being a product of IRCTC, a public sector, it shall have an added advantage over private players in lieu of trust and reliability.

To fulfill this vision and for business diversification of IRCTC in fintech space, a wholly owned subsidiary of IRCTC i.e IRCTC PAYMENTS LIMITED has been incorporated on 10^th February, 2024.

In this regard, IRCTC PAYMENTS LIMITED is planning to operate as a payment aggregator (“PA”) as per RBI Guidelines on Regulation of Payment Aggregators and Payment Gateways for Non-bank PAs.

c)    GSA B2B Policy

IRCTC is exploring the possibility of extending its Web Services B2B facility to organizations of foreign countries. Agents affiliated with foreign country organizations, referred to as 'GSA Retail Service Providers' (GRSP), shall be allowed to book IRCTC reserved rail e-ticket through the portal or website of the General Sales Agent (GSA), referred to as the 'GSA B2B Principal Service Provider'. This arrangement allows these GRSPs to facilitate ticket bookings for the general public in their respective countries. The objective of this policy is to target and encourage the potential foreign countries agents to register themselves as GSA for providing IRCTC reserved rail e-ticketing service.

d)    Same Day Online Refund

IRCTC has been constantly contributing to enhance the customer experience and convenience for reserved rail e-tickets through its Website and Rail Connect Mobile App with the aim of retaining its customer base. IRCTC e-ticketing system has to address the payment and refund issues which is the main reason for the largest number of complaints.

The earlier traditional file based method of refund were getting initiated for refund to user on T+1 day. However, now, IRCTC has implemented the functionality of same day refund initiation for failed transaction cases (where user’s Account gets debited and ticket not booked) of online Rail e-ticket transactions. The first step put forward in this process was laid in the month of December’2023. Now all such transactions are being initiated for refund on the same day. The refund for the transactions done through UPI are being refunded on the same day in user’s account.

IRCTC is in the process to implement the same day refund for cancelled tickets also, so that the refund will be initiated same day for cancelled ticket also.

e)    IRCTC Co-Branded Co-Sell (Cross-Selling) Chatbot

IRCTC Co-Branded Co-Sell/Cross-Selling Chatbot is a Conversational AI Platform solution on platform buy out model to cater to all information/queries, transactions & feedback across organizations (PSUs, Government Departments & Private Enterprises) in association with technical Partner. In this arrangement, complete platform, dashboard, customer / merchant care support and support

the installation, customization and other AI services etc. shall be provided. This product will be launched on DMRC website shortly.

f) ICT Refresh

The NGeT system was launched on April 2014, since then, the ICT Infra has been upgraded/augmented to enable the system handle increasing loads and integration of new services/functionalities. The ICT infra were placed under AMC support from respective OEMs so that support is available for the system 24x7. Procurement and implementation of ICT Infrastructure and Help Desk Services for NGeT System under NGeT ICT Refresh Project is under process, in coordination with CRIS for development of new Data Centre space for hosting new ICT Infra of NGeT under ICT Refresh. The project will ensure the sustainability of the NGET system for another 5 years with the capability to handle changing requirements, added functionalities, services and load.

d. PACKAGED DRINKING WATER (RAIL NEER)

Rail Neer is an exclusive brand of packaged drinking water of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). Our packaged drinking water is processed, purified, bottled, and packaged at the state of the art plants and widely available at all major railway stations across the Indian Railways Network.

Rail Neer Packaged Drinking Water has been made mandatory at major railway stations and to step up the production to meet growing demand, IRCTC is setting up various Rail Neer plants across the country.

During FY 2023-24, three new Rail Neer plant at Kota (Rajasthan), Simhadri (Andhra Pradesh) and Bhubaneswar (Orissa) with production capacity of 72000 bottles per day each has been set up. All three new plants have 100% rain water harvesting system to conserve water. To save energy, LED lighting fixture and energy efficient blowing machine and air compressors have been installed at all new Plants.

As on 31^st March, 2024, IRCTC has 19 operational Rail Neer plants located at Nangloi, Danapur, Palur, Ambernath, Amethi, Parassala, Bilaspur, Sanand, Hapur, Mandideep, Nagpur, Jagiroad, Maneri, Sankrail, Una, Bhusawal, Kota, Simhadri and Bhubaneswar. out of which plants at Amethi, Parassala, Sanand, Hapur, Mandideep, Nagpur, Jagiroad, Maneri, Sankrail, Una, Bilaspur, Bhusawal, Kota, Simhadri and Bhubaneswar are operated under the PPP model.

Performance of Rail Neer plants during FY 2023-24 as compared with FY 2022-23 is tabled hereunder:

Financial	Production	Turnover	Plant
Year	(bottles in Crore)	(In J crore)	Utilisation (%)
2023-24	39.45	326.66	74.00
2022-23	35.77	300.97	73.32

Quality: Rail Neer Plant at Nangloi, Danapur, Palur and Bilaspur are accredited with ISO 9001:2015 quality management system certification and Rail Neer Plant, Ambernath is accredited with ISO:22000-2015 certification.

The result of the tests carried out by the accredited laboratories on Rail Neer Packaged Drinking Water indicates that the quality of Rail Neer conforms to European Economic Community (EEC) norms for pesticide residue.

Technology/Capacity upgradation

•    Rail Neer Plant Simhadri has been set up in association with NTPC Ltd. The plant has been set up within the premises of NTPC Power Plant Simhadri. This project is based on desalinated water. NTPC treats the desalinated water through the process of Flue Gas Based Sea Water (FGSW) desalination system and supply to Rail Neer Plant through 1.2 km SS pipeline where it is further mineralised to meet BIS requirement for packaged Drinking Water. This project of Packaged Drinking Water based on flue gas based sea water (FGSW) desalination system is innovative, low carbon intensive plant. This plant is first of its kind in our country. The waste heat from existing flue gas in fossil fired power plant is utilised for distillation of sea water instead of steam or electricity as used in conventional desalination system.

•    We are also planning to upgrade the existing conventional Fork Lift Truck drive-in racking system to Battery and remote operated Cassette Drive in racking system.

•    IRCTC has developed a Rail Neer App for billing and monitoring Rail Neer distribution operations in plants. This App has improved performance of Rail Neer distribution operations and helpful to utilise it as a decision-making tool. Rail Neer Carrying and Forwarding Agencies (CFAs) have been empowered to issue invoice through Rail Neer App to licensees, enabling live record and reconciliation of sale and supply of stock to trains and catering units. This has simplified the process of bill settlement in real time, rendering accurate results every time. It has also resulted in savings in stationary and offers time for reconciliation. Further, the data of billing is automatically uploaded on GST portal.

Future Strategy:

To meet increased demand of Rail Neer over Indian Railways, capacity enhancement of Rail Neer Plant Palur, Ambernath and Danapur is under process and work is likely to be executed in FY 2024-25. With the capacity augmentation work, additional production of approx. 3 lakh bottles per day is expected to be created.

IRCTC’s current production capacity is around 17.68 lakh litres/ day, spread over nineteen working plants. With the likely commissioning of one more plant at Mallavalli near Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) July, 2024, capacity will be enhanced to approx. 18.40 lakh litres/day.

e. HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

The Company continues to invest in the Human Resource Development with a push on HR policy changes and introduction of online systems. Many progressive schemes have been implemented to improve alignment between individuals and the organisation. Revamping the Performance Management System with the introduction of PMS for E7 & E8 employees, introduction of separate Skill Development Section, enhancing employee engagement and strengthening internal communication with “Talk to Management Programmes”, internal grievance handling and use of e-platform based interventions for learning and development.

As on 31^st March, 2024, the Company had a total manpower strength of 2726 personnel with the following details:

Category	No. of Employees
Regular Employees	1,348
Deputationists	48
On Contract	374
Out-sourced	926#
Consultants	24
Re-employed	06

#Engaged through Manpower Service Provider Agency for providing support services.

The percentage of women employees, SC/ST/OBC employees, persons with disabilities and ex-servicemen out of regular employees of the Company is mentioned below:

Category	No. of Employees	% of total no. of regular employees (1348)
Women employees	114	8.48
SC Personnel	263	19.51
ST Personnel	70	5.19
Other Backward Classes	337	25
Persons with Disabilities	13	0.96

Employee Welfare:

Employees are the backbone of a successful company. They are valuable assets that must be invested in, nurture and encouraged to be the best they can be. It is the responsibility of the company to create a positive work environment that fosters employee engagement, motivation, satisfaction and retention. It has to be ensured that all employees are happy, healthy, safe, and productive. Employee welfare refers to the services and benefits provided to the employee for their well-being which includes physical safety, mental health, and stress-management programs.

Going ahead in this direction, the Company took following initiatives: ¹

her long pending grievances or any innovative idea for improving the performance of organization or any other issue, without the intervention of his controlling officer/ supervisor. The basic idea behind this scheme is to get suggestions from the employees through ‘brainstorming’ for system improvement of the organization, besides resolving the grievance of the employee.

•    Introduction of Skill Development Section: IRCTC has introduced a Skill Development & Training Section wherein the Training Cell has conducted various training programs related to Food Safety & Hygiene, POSH, MDPs, Orientation programs, Virtual campus, GeM, HR conclaves, Cyber Security, Stress Management, Wellness Programs during the FY 2023-24 and covered training across all levels. IRCTC has introduced its own LMS (Learning Management System) known as i-Prepare which is available on Google Play. 629 staffs/officers attended various training programs through IRCTC i-prepare app.

•    Empanelment of in-house doctors at office premises:

IRCTC is providing free consultation services of AYUSH Physicians, General Allopathic Physician and Gynaecologist to the employees of the Corporate Office and North Zone. Ayush treatment has helped a large number of staff and their families in recovering from illnesses i.e. common cough, cold and prevention of seasonal diseases. With the empanelment of a General Allopathic Physician, the employees are saved from rushing to clinics/dispensaries for normal clinical ailments saving their time & money. Further, women employees are being attended to for their gynae issues with the empanelment of in-house Gynaecologist.

•    Compassionate Ground appointments in place of deceased regular employee: IRCTC is providing Compassionate Grounds appointment for dependents of IRCTC regular employees who lose their lives while in service (except in case of suicide) in order to support the family/dependants and liabilities left by the deceased employee.

•    Provision of financial aid to the family in the event of death of employee: IRCTC Employees’ Contributory Welfare Scheme has been introduced with an aim to provide immediate financial aid to the family in the event of death of an IRCTC’s employee. An employee can become a member of scheme on voluntary basis, by contributing a nominal amount of H 100/- per month.

•    Empanelment of hospitals for OPD and IPD treatments:

For medical treatment requiring hospitalization and indoor attention, full reimbursement is being made of the expenses incurred in Empanelled Hospitals, Government Hospitals, Government aided Hospitals, etc. The empanelled hospitals are also providing OPD consultations to employees and their dependants either on CGHS rates or on discounted rates.

•    Social Security measure for retired employees and their spouse: As a social security measure, IRCTC has introduced the Post Retirement Medical Scheme which has been extended to post-retirement medical benefit to the eligible employees in IDA pay scale and their spouses who have superannuated/retired/died on or after 01.01.2007 after putting in 15 years of service in CPSE(s). This scheme also covers those employees who have already superannuated, retired or medically retired on or after 01.01.2007.

•    Coverage of accidental deaths: With the introduction of Group Life Insurance scheme, IRCTC has extended the coverage of accidental death as well as natural death with monetary limit of 70 months basic pay plus Dearness Allowance for all employees of IRCTC, including deputationists.

•    Ex-gratia for deceased employee: An amount of H 25,000/- is granted as ex-gratia to the dependent family members of the deceased employee as funeral expenses.

•    Engagement of apprentices: As per the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship guidelines, IRCTC is duly fulfilling its obligation of engaging apprentices for training in the band of 2.5% to 10% of the sanctioned strength. For this period of training, a stipend is paid to each apprentice as per directives of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. During the year 202324, 73 apprentices (i.e. 5.41% of the total employee strength) were engaged.

A small glimpse of the trainings conducted during the last two financial years is as under:

Financial	Number of	Number of	Man days
Year	Training Programs	staff trained
2022-23	68	1,285	8,529
2023-24	391	1,767	9924

*Excluding the Programs available at i-Prepare app.

No of staff trained through LMS (i-prepare)

Steps and initiatives taken by IRCTC for Health & Safety Improvements of Human resources

IRCTC is fully aware of the Health & Safety issues pertaining to its employees and, therefore, regularly conducts Training sessions/ Workshops/Webinars on heath and allied activities. The programnes conducted during FY 2023-24 are listed below:-

 

S. No.	Activities	Period/Duration	Attended by
1.	Organized -Online Wellness Session on IBS “Irritable Bowel Syndrome” Gastric Problems care By Dr. Reddy’s Foundation- on World Day for Safety & Health	28-4-2023	All IRCTC Employees
2.	Organized “Breast Health Awareness cum Screening Camp for IRCTC female employees.	12/13-04-2023	138 Female employees attended
3.	Organized Blood Donor Camp on 14Th June, 2023 at IRCTC Corporate Office on the Occasion of World Blood Donor Day.	14-6-2023	IRCTC Employees at Delhi Offices.
4.	Organized 02 hours online Session on Yoga at Work Place for Work-Life Balance by Jagan Institute of Management, Delhi on World Yoga Day.	21-6-2023	All IRCTC Employees
5.	Organized Lecture on Meditation for Healthy & Happy Life” by Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishva Vidyalaya on World Yoga Day	21-6-2023	All IRCTC Employees
6.	Organized General Preventive Health Check-up Camp for IRCTC Employees .	24-7-2023	IRCTC Employees at Delhi Offices.
7.	Organized a webinar on Diabetes & Kidney	11 & 28-07-2023	All IRCTC employees
8.	Organized Webinar on POSH for the Safety of IRCTC Women Employees	9-12-2023	180 IRCTC Employees
9.	Nominated Officers to attend Five days Residential Program on Stress Management & Strategic Financial Planning - Organized by National Productivity Council at Gangtok.	18-12-2023 to 22-12-2023	05 IRCTC Officers

 

S. No.	Detail of Training/Program	Number of Officers/staff attended the program
Â	Prevention of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (POSH) Awareness through online LMS app (i-prepare).	288
2	Vande Bharat Catering Staff course module through online LMS app (i-prepare).	122
3	Cyber Security Awareness through online LMS app (i-prepare).	183
4	Government e-market place	36
Â	Total Staff	629

S. No.	Activities	Period/Duration	Attended by
10.	Organized Health talk on Universal Health Coverage Day	12-12-2023	All IRCTC Employees
11.	Planned & executed POSH training course- “Highlighting the Women Employees” through IRCTC ‘I- prepare” Android based AI integrated App	Through-out the year	For all IRCTC Employees
12.	Organized a webinar on ‘Epilepsy’	15-02-2024	All employees of IRCTC
13.	Organized Health Camp on World Tuberculosis Day	24-03-2023	All IRCTC Employees
14.	Arrangement of Homeopathic Doctor by IRCTC at Corporate Office for general health check-up & wellness of staff & providing Homeopathic medicine.	Through-out the year	Corporate Office & allied IRCTC Offices at Delhi.
15.	Arrangement of Doctor (General Physician) from Sita Ram Bhartiya Institute of Science & Research. for general health check-up & wellness of staff	Through-out the year	Corporate Office & allied IRCTC Offices at Delhi.

 

Industrial Relations

The industrial relations climate in the Company has traditionally been harmonious and cordial. A collaborative and seamless IR atmosphere has been maintained in the Company so that IRCTCians are ready for the challenges faced by the Company due to the changing business environment. An effective work culture has been established in the company through empowerment, transparency, decentralisation and practice of participative management to support the management in overcoming challenges faced by the Company.

Particulars of Employees

The provisions of Section 134(3)(e) of the Act are not applicable to a Government Company. Consequently, details on Company’s policy on Directors’ appointment and other matters as required under Section 178 (3) of the Act, are not provided.

Similarly, Section 197 of the Act is also exempt for a Government Company. Consequently, there is no requirement of disclosure regarding the statement showing the names and other particulars of every employee of the Company, who if employed throughout / part of the financial year, was in receipt of remuneration in excess of the limits set out in the rules are not provided in terms of Section 197 (12) of the Act read with Rule 5 (1) & (2) of the Companies (Appointment and Remuneration of Managerial Personnel) Rules, 2014.

Digitisation of HR data

During the year, the Company took various steps towards the digitization. Various in-house developed software applications have been successfully implemented :

a.    Performance Management System for online assessment of all the officers / staffs upto E-8 level.

b.    Development of online receipt of ID card request from all employees / staff of IRCTC.

c.    Online application for receipt of training requests from employees.

d.    Vigilance Complaint management System.

e.    Vendor Authentication management System.

f.    New modules integrated in HRMS system.

g.    IOS based HRMS mobile app for all the employees is in testing phase for launch:

i.    NoC for external employment,

ii.    Sanctioning of Marriage Gift to the regular employees,

iii.    NoC for Passport (Fresh/Renewal) are developed in HRMS system.

Use of Information Technology/ERP

Information Technology works as a key link among the various user departments. Various initiatives have been taken during the year for benefit of employees, such as E-office upgradation.

In addition to the above and aiming to widely use of electronic means in daily routine work, various in-house applications have been designed, developed and implemented in the organization.

Efforts were taken for involvement as well as transparency in official work involving general public outside IRCTC with in-house developed applications such as, successful completion of Online vendor empanelment system with Integrated Payment Gateway for Packaged items and Ready To Eat products, Agency Integration of Gift Voucher/ Gift Card based White Label Solution, Advertising Agency on DAVP/BOC Rates, Authentication through online Vendor Authentication management System.

Further, the Company also undertook integration of Air ticketing portal with ERP and relaunched New Railneer App during 2023-24.

f. VIGILANCE

Vgilance wing in IRCTC is a key department acting as direct link between CVC, Railway Board Vigilance and the Organization. It has been entrusted with the responsibilities of mandate to carry on various surprise checks and scrutinize records/documents of various other departments from time to time for detection of any, malpractices, corruption and unwarranted/unlawful business conduct in the organization. It coordinates with IRCTC management and Railway Board Vigilance in dealing with matters of vigilance administration, policy and disciplinary proceedings against erring officials. IRCTC vigilance wing is headed by a full time CVO assisted by Deputy CVO, 2 Vigilance Officer, and 3 Vigilance Inspectors in Corporate office. Further, there are 5 Vigilance Officers, one in each zone for handling vigilance related matters in the Zonal office & field units. CVO being the extended arm of CVC is deeply engaged in furthering culture of transparency, fair procedures, good business conduct and raising vigilance awareness in the organization. The focus area of vigilance department is to promote work culture of intelligence gathering, monitoring and surveillance. Efforts are being made to undertake pro-active preventive Vigilance measures. This is to ensure fair systems and procedures in place thereby increasing transparency and reducing scope for discretion.

During 2023-24, the vigilance department investigated 27 complaints in detail, and, 47 complaints having no Vigilance angle were forwarded to concerned department for necessary action. Total 111 preventive/surprise checks were conducted in catering and e-ticketing sector. The malpractices and incidents of corruption so detected were communicated to the concerned department for stringent action against the licensees and erring employees. The resultant fine recovered was to the tune of H 13,33,455/-.

Further, on the recommendation of Vigilance department, two system improvements were implemented by management to minimise instances of malpractices, especially in the procurement, catering, tourism and e-ticketing sectors. As a mandate of CVC, CMD/IRCTC undertook periodical review of activities and performance of vigilance department with the CVO.

As per the directives of Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) “Vigilance Awareness Week” was observed at IRCTC from 30^th October, 2023 to 5^th November 2023 with the theme, “ysiMTa fdrtY Ht; a? Hr sfV    ah,” Say no to corruption; commit

to the Nation” and all employees took ”Integrity Pledge”. Various programmes/ competitions/ seminars were conducted in all the offices of the IRCTC with a view to create awareness about preventive measures through system improvement. Moreover, new initiatives were implemented like "TEJASathon” in which interactive session with passengers were done for increasing awareness among general public. It was observed to encourage all stakeholders, employees, associated vendors

and citizens to collectively participate, fight against corruption and to raise public awareness regarding existence, causes, gravity and the threat posed by corruption.

Integrity Pact

IRCTC has implemented the integrity pact programme in line with the recommendations of the Central Vigilance Commission with an objective to ensure that all activities and transactions between a Company or Government departments and their Suppliers are handled in a fair, transparent and corruption-free manner. The adoption of the Integrity Pact by IRCTC has helped in establishing healthy business practices. To ensure transparency and healthy competitiveness in public procurements/ contracts, IRCTC has adopted the Integrity Pact. Two (02) Independent External monitors are appointed in IRCTC with the approval of the CVC. Currently, Shri Apurva Varma, IAS (Red.) and Shri Bharat Prasad Singh. IFoS (Red.) are IEMs for Integrity Pact in IRCTC. A coordinator has also been appointed for Integrity Pact for monitoring and implementation of Integrity Pact. Integrity Pact now being used in all the tenders which are beyond the identified threshold values.

Establishment of Vigil Mechanism

Disclosure regarding establishment of vigil mechanism is included under the Corporate Governance Report at Annexure-"B".

Your Company has established Whistle Blower Policy/ Vigil Mechanism to report genuine concerns about unethical behaviour, actual or suspected fraud, violation of Code of conduct and also instances of leak of unpublished price sensitive information. The said vigil mechanism provides for adequate safeguards against victimization of persons who use the mechanism and has provision for direct access to the Chairperson of the Audit Committee in appropriate or exceptional cases.

g.    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

The Company has been actively engaged in various CSR activities over the years, encompassing the entire gamut of social welfare / upliftment activities across the nation. The Company has identified thrust areas under CSR, which inter alia include healthcare and sanitation, education and empowerment of women and socially / economically backward groups, etc. During the year, the Company spent the entire budget of H 16.64 crore on various CSR activities. A report on the Company’s CSR activities as per the provisions of the Companies Act along with the CSR highlights for the year is annexed at Annexure-“C” to the report. The composition of the CSR Committee is provided in the Corporate Governance Report. The CSR policy of the Company can be accessed at the website of the Company on the web link https://www.irctc.com/assets/ images/CSR-Vision-Document.pdf

h.    COMPLIANCES

• Right to Information Act

An elaborate mechanism has been set up throughout the Company to deal with matters relating to the Right

to Information Act 2005. As required under the RTI Act, detailed information is hosted and regularly updated on the official website of the Company, i.e., https://www. irctc.com/rti.html which inter-alia includes details of CPIOs / APIOs/Appellate Authorities, third party audited reports on mandatory disclosures, etc. To deal with RTI applications in a fast track mode, IRCTC generates one Unique Registration No. (URN) for each application and the same is replied by the concerned CPIO/PIO well within the prescribed time limit.

The Company has aligned with the online RTI portal launched by DoPT, Govt. of India, and all the applications/ appeals received through the portal are disposed off through the portal only. The Quarterly Reports / Annual Reports are submitted, within the prescribed timeline, on the website of the Central Information Commission, i.e., www.cic.gov.in.

During 2023-24, a total of 2351 RTI Applications and 162 RTI Appeals under the RTI Act, 2005 were received and all the applications were dealt/disposed-off in a timely manner.

Detail of RTI Applications and Appeals is as below.
Particulars	Opening Balance as on 01.04.2023	No. of Applications received as transfer from other PAs u/s 6 (3)	Received during the year	No. of cases transferred to other PAs u/s 6(3)	Decision where requests / appeals rejected	Decision where requests / appeals replied	Closing as on 31.03.2024
Requests	49	3	2,351	260	25	2011	107
Appeals	3	0	162	0	0	143	22

•    Presidential Directives

The Company follows the Presidential Directives as and when received from Ministry of Railways. However, no Presidential Directive was received during the year.

•    Rajbhasha (Official Language)

Rajbhasha section has been set up in the Corporate Office of IRCTC, so that implementation of Rajbhasha Policy of Govt. of India can be ascertained. Experienced Official Language officers and employees have been deployed in the Rajbhasha Department. Presently, in the Corporate Office of IRCTC, Group General Manager/ HRD has been designated as Chief Official Language Officer and Assistant Manager, Rail Neer as Rajbhasha Adhikari to look after the administrative work of Hindi in addition to their normal work. Apart from this, DEO and Consultant are performing all types of work under them. Such as execution of works related to the Department of Official Language in all zonal and regional offices of IRCTC, following and guiding the Annual Program issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Official

Language and informing about all the work related to the Department of Official Language.

In all the Zonal offices of IRCTC, retired Senior Official Language Officer/Official Language officers from the Department of Official Language of Central Government Offices/Undertakings/Public Bodies/Departments have been engaged as Consultant/Official Language. 05 Consultants/Rajbhasha have been posted in 03 zonal offices, and appointment of Consultants/Rajbhasha is in process for other 02 zones.

A library has been established in the Official Language Department of the Corporation Office. Different types of interesting and informative Hindi books are available in the library. These include novels, story collections, poetry collections and many analytical and informative books on various contemporary subjects by eminent and well-known writers and creators of Hindi literature.

Hindi Saptaah 2023

Hindi Saptaah week was organized from 14^th to 21^st September, 2023 at IRCTC Corporate Office. During

Rajbhasha Week, propagation of the Hindi Day messages of Railway Minister and Chairman and Managing Director/ IRCTC in all regional and subordinate offices along with corporate office was done and Rajbhasha Competitions in every subordinate office/corporate office were organised.

Inspection of Regional Office, Bengaluru by Second Sub Committee of Parliament on official Language on 14.07.2023

During Rajbhasha week Hindi workshops, Noting, Drafting and Shabd Gyan Competitions were organized. 95 contestants participated in the competitions out of which 16 employees were awarded with prizes.

Inspection by Parliamentary Committee on Official Language:

During 2023-24, various regions/zones were inspected, viz, Patna/ Regional Office, Lucknow/Regional Office, Benguluru/Regional Office, Vijaywada/Area Office, Vishakhapattnam/Area Office and Danapur/Area Office.

 

Inspection of Area Office, RailNeer Plant, Danapur by Second SubCommittee of Parliament on official Language on 29.12.2023

• Disclosure Requirement under Sexual Harassment of Women at Work Place (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal ) Act 2013

The provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 and the rules thereon are being strictly complied with. The Company is committed to the prevention of sexual harassment of women at workplace and takes prompt action in the event of reporting of such incidents.

 

In accordance with the Act, to provide protection against sexual harassment of women at workplace and to maintain their safety, IRCTC has nominated Internal Complaints Committee(s) with the composition as required under the Act, at the Corporate Office as well as Zonal offices of the company.

The detail of complaints, received, disposed off and pending during the year 2023-24 is reproduced below:

Status as on 1st April 2023	Received during the year	Disposed off during the year	Pending as on 31st March 2024
1 (One)	2 (Two)	2 (Two)	1 (One)

• Procurement from Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs)

In line with the Public Procurement Policy of the Government of India, as amended, the Company is required to procure minimum 25% of the total procurement of Goods and Services from MSEs, out of which 4% is earmarked for procurement from MSEs owned by SC / ST entrepreneurs and 3% from MSEs owned by women. The procurement from MSEs during FY 2023-24 was as under:

Parameters |	Targets	Actual
Total Procurement from MSEs (General, Reserved SC/ST & Women)	25%	63.02 %
Procurement from Reserved SC/ST MSEs	4% (Sub-target out of 25%)	777 %
Procurement from Women owned MSEs	3% (Sub-target out of 25%)	3.05 %

Several initiatives were undertaken to identify the entrepreneurs for procurement of goods and services from MSEs owned by SC / ST enterprises and women owned MSEs.

• Facilitation for payment of invoices through TReDS Portal:

In exercise of powers conferred by Section 9 of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Act, 2006 (27 of 2006), the Central Government issued instructions that all CPSEs shall be required to get themselves on boarded on the Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) platform, set up as per the notification of the Reserve Bank of India.

In compliance with the above instructions, your Company is on the TReDS platform, registered with Receivables Exchange of India Limited (RXIL) , to facilitate financing of trade receivables of MSEs by discounting of their receivables and realisation of their payment before the due date.

The company is having real time bill tracking system with facility for uploading of bills by vendors and releasing payments. In order to enable MSEs to avail the benefit of TReDS portal, the company is ensuring decision on acceptance/rejection of Goods & Services and payment to MSE vendors within the stipulated time period of the contracts.

• Mandatory use of GEM for procurement:

During the year, GEM portal was extensively used for procurement of capital goods, consumables as well as services across zones & regions. During FY 2023-24, IRCTC’s total procurement through GeM is as under.

Financial Year	Total Procurement (In J cr)	Procurement through GeM (In J cr)	Procurement through GeM (In %)
2022-23	144.84	85.76	59.21%
2023-24	213.19	122.06	57.25%

i. COMPLIANCES UNDER THE COMPANIES ACT 2013 / SEBI (LODR) REGULATIONS 2015

•    Annual Return

As required under the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, the Annual Return is hosted on the Company’s website and can be accessed from the link https://irctc. com/Annual%20Return.html

•    Deposits

The Company has not accepted or invited any deposits from the public under Chapter V of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Companies (Acceptance of Deposits) Rules, 2014 during the year under review. Therefore, the information required to be reported under Rule 8 (5) (v) of Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 is NIL.

Further, as provided in Secretarial Standards, information regarding details of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)/National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) orders with respect to depositors for extension of time for repayment, penalty imposed, if any is also NIL.

•    Particulars of loans & guarantees given, investments made and securities provided

During the year, the Company has not provided any loan or provided any guarantee under section 186 of Companies Act, 2013 read with Companies (Meetings of Board and its Powers) Rules, 2014.

The details of investments made by the Company in its wholly owned subsidiary company i.e., IRCTC Payments Limited during the FY 2023-24 forms part of the notes

to the standalone financial statements provided in the Annual Report.

•    Contracts and arrangements with related parties

During the Financial Year, the Company has not entered into any material transaction with any of its related parties, which have potential conflict with the interest of the Company at large. All the contracts / arrangements / transactions entered into with related parties were in the ordinary course of business and on arm’s length basis. Accordingly, the disclosure of Related Party Transactions as required under Section 134(3)(h) of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Section 188 of the Act and Rule 8(2) of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 in Form AOC-2 is “Nil” and is annexed to the report as “Annexure-H”.

In accordance with the requirements prescribed under Companies Act, 2013, SEBI (LODR) Regulations, 2015 and Accounting Standard -24 on Related Party disclosures, the details of transactions with related parties are disclosed in Note No. 44 of the Notes to Financial Statements for the year ended 31^st March 2024.

•    Internal Financial Control System

Your Company has established adequate Internal Financial Controls by laying down policies and procedures to ensure the efficient conduct of its business, safeguarding of its assets, prevention and detection of frauds and errors, accuracy and completeness of the accounting records, and timely preparation of reliable financial information commensurate with the operations of the Company. The effectiveness of these Internal Financial Controls is ensured through management reviews, self-assessment and independent testing by the Internal Auditor. These assessments indicates that your Company has adequate Internal Financial Controls over Financial Reporting in compliance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 and such Internal Financial Controls are operating effectively. The Audit Committee reviews the Internal Financial Controls to ensure its effectiveness for achieving the intended purpose. Independent Auditors Report on the Internal Financial Controls of the Company in terms of Clause (i) of Sub-Section 3 of Section 143 of the Companies Act, 2013 by the Statutory Auditors is placed along with the Financial Statements.

M/s Ashok Shyam & Associates, Chartered Accountants were engaged for certification of Internal Financial Control (IFC) for FY 2023-24, in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 and rules framed thereunder.

The report of M/s Ashok Shyam & Associates, Chartered Accountants on Internal Financial Control was placed before the Audit Committee for the consideration and deliberations. Details of the internal control system are [gi v ivjcvj ill me i v i vj i ictyc.11 ic-i ii idiocuooidi i uiiu mi luiyoio

Report given at Annexure-”A”.

•    Risk Management

The Company has in place a Board Level Risk Management Committee and the details of the composition, meetings held and terms of reference are included under the Report of Corporate Governance placed as Annexure -’’B’’.

The Company also has a below Board level Committee comprised of of GGM level officers, including GM (Quality projects & Corporate Co-ordination) as Chief Risk Officer (CRO). The functions of the Committee are to identify the risks related to the specific business segments of IRCTC in order to establish an appropriate risk management framework in the Company.

During quarterly meetings of below Board Risk Management Committee, various risks are identified and deliberated at the Board level committee. The details of the identified risks with their mitigation strategies are mentioned in the Management Discussion & Analysis Report enclosed as Annexure-“A”.

•    Significant and Material Orders

There are no significant or material orders passed by the regulators or courts or tribunals impacting the going concern status and the Company’s operations in future.

•    Secretarial Standards

The Company has complied with Secretarial Standards issued by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India to the extent applicable.

•    Investor Education & Protection Fund (IEPF)

The details related to status of shares transferred to the IEPF in compliance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 has been provided in the Corporate Governance Report.

•    Reporting of frauds by Auditors

The Auditors in their report for the year have not reported any instance of fraud committed by the officers/employees of the Company.

•    Credit Rating of securities

During FY 2023-24, the Company has not received any credit rating by the rating agencies.

•    Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process initiated under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016

The Company has no information to disclose under above.

•    Failure to implement any Corporate Action

The Company has implemented all Corporate Actions successfully within prescribed timelines. Therefore, the Company has nothing to report.

•    Particulars relating to Conservation of energy, Technology Absorption and Foreign Exchange Earnings and Outgo etc.

The details pertaining to Conservation of Energy and Technology Absorption; and Foreign Exchange Earnings and Outgo, as required to be disclosed under Section 134(3)(m) of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Rule 8 of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 is given as under:

Conservation of Energy:

Your Company is committed to minimizing adverse environmental impacts resulting from its operations, products, and services. To achieve this, the company implements various efforts and initiatives aimed at utilizing processes, practices, materials, and products that prioritize pollution avoidance, reduction, and control.

Furthermore, IRCTC ensures compliance with relevant environmental laws and regulations while effectively operating pollution control facilities across all its plants and units. This proactive approach is integral to safeguarding the environment, promoting a safe and clean environment, and reducing dependence on conventional energy sources.

The particulars on Conservation of Energy in details are mentioned in Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report enclosed as Annexure - “D”.

Technology Absorption:

S. No.	Particulars	Status
(a)	the details of technology imported;	Nil
(b)	the year of import;	NA
(c)	whether the technology has been fully absorbed;	NA
(d)	if not fully absorbed, areas where absorption has not taken place, and the reasons thereof;	NA

• Expenditure incurred on Research and Development.

Your Company does not undertake exclusive research projects as it does not have the presence in such a domain. However, to improve the technical capability and enhance competence, various methods and techniques are developed and innovative systems have

been introduced for its business segments viz. Rail Neer, Catering and Internet Ticketing.

• Foreign Exchange Earnings and Outgo

The Foreign Exchange earned in terms of actual inflows during the year and the Foreign Exchange outgo during the year, in terms of actual outflows, compared to previous year is mentioned below:

in Pmm'i

Particulars	2023-24	2022-23
Foreign Exchange Earning	36.06	27.37
Foreign Exchange Outgo	Â	Â
Foreign Travelling Expenses	0.41	0.23
Other Expenses	1.47	0.24-

•    Retirement of Directors by Rotation

In accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 and the Articles of Association of the Company, Shri Manoj Kumar Gangeya, ED (Planning), Railway Board & Government Nominee Director is liable to retire by rotation at the ensuing 25^th AGM of the Company and being eligible, offers himself for re-appointment. The details of Shri Manoj Kumar Gangeya, ED (Planning), Railway Board & Government Nominee Director, seeking re-appointment at ensuing AGM are contained in the Notice of AGM.

•    Policy on Performance Evaluation of Directors

The provisions of Section 134(3)(p) of the Companies Act, 2013 require a listed entity to include a statement indicating the manner of formal evaluation of performance of the Board, its Committees and of individual Directors. However, the said provisions are exempt for Government Companies as per Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA)’s notifications dated 05.06.2015 and 05.07.2017. IRCTC being a Government Company under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways is also exempted from the above-mentioned provisions of Companies Act.

In IRCTC, the evaluation of performance of Functional Directors includes self-evaluation by the respective functional directors and subsequent assessment by CMD with final evaluation by the Ministry of Railways.

The performance evaluation of CMD includes selfevaluation and final evaluation by the Ministry of Railways.

In respect of Government Nominee Directors, their evaluation is done by the Ministry of Railways as per the procedure laid down. Since, Independent Directors are appointed by the administrative ministry, their evaluation is also done by the Ministry of Railways and Department of Public Enterprises.

j. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

Evaluation of MoU performance for the year 2022-23 as per DPE parameters is finalized, and, the Company secured a rating of “Very Good” based on the outcomes achieved with reference to the key performance indicators (KPIs) enshrined in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the financial year 2022-23.

The company signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Railways for 2023-24 and its evaluation is under process with DPE.

The MOU for FY 2023-24 includes some of the compliance parameters and their compliance status are as follows:

S. No.	Name of Parameter	Remarks
1.	Acceptance/ Rejection of Goods & Services through TReDS Portal	Complied with. Please refer para related to TReDS portal in the Directors’ Report.
2.	Procurement from GeM as per approved Procurement Plan	Complied with. Please refer to para related to procurement from GeM in the Directors’ Report.

S. No.	Compliance of Parameters	Remarks
1. DPE guidelines issued		Complied with.
from time to time on CSR		Please refer CSR
expenditure by CPSEs.		Report enclosed as
Â		Annexure - “C”
2.	Compliance of provisions	Complied with except
in the Companies Act,		composition of the
2013 (or SEBI (LODR)		Board of Directors.
regulations in case		Please refer Report
of listed entities) on		on Corporate
Corporate Governance		Governance enclosed
such as: (i) Composition		as Annexure - “B”.
of Board of Directors		Â
(ii) Board Committees		Â
(Audit Committee etc.)		Â
(iii) Holding Board		Â
Meetings (iv) Related		Â
Party Transaction		Â
(v) Disclosures and		Â
Transparency		Â
3.	Target as given by	Complied. Nil
NITI Aayog on Assets		Target has been
Monetization Milestones		communicated by
Â		Ministry of Railways

S. No.	Compliance of Parameters	Remarks
4.	Procurement of goods or services through MSEs as % of Total procurement of goods and services - 25%	Â
5.	Procurement of goods or services through SC/ ST MSEs as % of Total procurement of goods and services - 4%	Complied with. Please refer para related to procurement through MSEs in the Directors’ Report.
6.	Procurement of goods or services through Women MSEs as % of Total procurement of goods and services - 3%	Â
7.	Steps and initiative taken	Complied with.
Â	for Health & Safety	Please refer para
Â	improvement of Human	related to steps and
Â	Resources in CPSEs	initiatives by IRCTC
Â	(Target to be prescribed	for Health and Safety
Â	by the Administrative	Improvements of
Â	Ministry)	Human Resources in
Â	Â	the Directors’ Report.
8.	Compliance with provisions relating to TReDS as outlined in DPE OM No. DPE-7(4)/2007- Fin dated 04-05-2020	Complied with.

k.    AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Asia’s leading Luxury Train Award 2023 to Maharajas’ Express Train by World Travel Awards ( 30^th Annual World Travel Awards in September 2023).

l.    DETAILS OF SUBSIDIARIES AND ASSOCIATE/JOINT VENTURE COMPANIES

Your Company has following subsidiaries and associate/joint venture companies as on March 31, 2024:

i. Subsidiary Companies:

IRCTC Payments Limited:

IRCTC Payments Limited was incorporated on February 10, 2024 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company for the purpose of payment aggregator business. It has an authorized share capital of H 25 Crores, consisting of 2.5 Crores equity shares of H 10/- each, and a paid-up share capital of H 15 Crores, consisting of 1.5 Crores equity shares of H 10/- each. Details of Directors, CEO,

CFO & Company Secretary of IRCTC Payments Limited are available on the website of Company at the web-link https://www.irctc.com/Subsidairy.html.

ii.    Associate/Joint Venture companies:

Royale Indian Rail Tours Limited (RIRTL):

Royale Indian Rail Tours Limited (RIRTL) is a joint venture between IRCTC and Cox & Kings Limited in the ratio of 50:50 incorporated on 27^th November, 2008 with an objective to acquire, furnish, maintain, manage and operate luxury trains and to market holiday packages.

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 was leased to the Royale Indian Rail Tours Limited (RIRTL) for the purpose of running, operating and managing the luxury tourist train for a period of 15 years. However, due to certain issues between the equity partners, the lease of the luxury train was withdrawn and the JV Agreement dated 10^th December, 2008 was terminated. Cox & Kings Limited initiated arbitration proceedings seeking restoration of Joint Venture Agreement. The Arbitral tribunal after concluding the Arbitration proceedings passed an Award dated 31.07.2023 in favour of IRCTC by rejecting all the claims of Cox & Kings.

IRCTC has also filed a petition against Royale Indian Rail Tours Limited (RIRTL) and Cox & Kings Limited and others before National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) (erstwhile Company Law Board) under sections 388B, 397, 398, 399 and 403 of the Companies Act, 1956 and the said petition is sub-judice. NCLT has declared the said company (RIRTL) to be in managerial dispute. Details of the Joint Venture are covered in the notes to accounts of the standalone financial statements for the period ending 31^st March, 2024 vide note no. 37.2(ii) and 45. The parties have also taken permission from the NCLT for not holding the Board and General meetings of RIRTL without its approval in July, 2013. The matter relating to the winding up of RIRTL, whereby an express order from NCLT is to be obtained, is under process and further course of action would be taken accordingly based on the developments in this process.

iii.    Companies which have become/ ceased to be Company’s Subsidiaries, Joint Ventures and Associates Companies during FY’24

i.	Companies which have become subsidiaries	1 (IRCTC Payments Limited)
ii.	Companies which have ceased to be subsidiaries	Nil
iii.	Companies which have become a joint venture or associate	Nil
iv.	Companies which have ceased to be a joint venture or associate	Nil

m.    CONSOLIDATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

As mentioned in the paragraph above, the Board meetings and general meetings have not been held in RIRTL since financial year 2010-2011, due to pending dispute with Cox & Kings Limited. Therefore, the consolidation of financial statements as required under section 129(3) of the Companies Act 2013 could not be done as also explained and disclosed vide Note No. 45 of the Notes to accounts of the standalone financial statements for the period ending 31^st March 2024.

Also, as IRCTC’s wholly owned subsidiary company i.e., IRCTC Payments Limited, was incorporated after 31^st December 2023, its first financial year will end on 31^st March, 2025; hence, the financial statements of IRCTC Payments Limited will be placed on the website of the Company from the FY 2024-25 onwards. However, IRCTC Payments Limited has prepared its Financial Statements (certified by the Management) for the period from February 10, 2024 to March 31, 2024 for consolidation purpose.

The salient features of financial statements of subsidiary company as per the first proviso of Section 129(3) of the Companies Act, 2013 is given under Note No. 84 of the Consolidated Financial Statements forming part of this Annual Report.

The Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on May 28, 2024 had approved the audited (Standalone and Consolidated) Financial Statements for FY 2023-2024.

n.    AUDITORS Statutory Auditor

In accordance with Section 139(5) of the Companies Act 2013, Comptroller & Auditor General of India has appointed M/s N.K. Bhargava & Co., Chartered Accountants as Statutory Auditor of the Company to audit the financial statements for the financial year 2023-24. The details of payment made to Statutory Auditor during financial year 2023-24 on consolidated basis is mentioned below:

in Prnrc^

Payment to Auditors	Year ended March 31, 2024	Year ended March 31, 2023
Audit Fees	0.18	0.16
Tax Audit Fees	0.05	0.04
Certification and Other Ser-vices	0.11	0.11
Travelling and Out of Pocket Expanses	0.09	0.12

Secretarial Auditor

Pursuant to Section 204 of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Companies (Appointment and Remuneration of Managerial Personnel) Rules, 2014, IRCTC has appointed M/s Kumar Naresh Sinha & Associates, an independent firm of practicing Company Secretaries to conduct Secretarial Audit for the financial year 2023-24.

The Secretarial Audit Report for the financial year ended March 31, 2024 is enclosed as Annexure-”E” to this report.

Internal Auditor

As per Section 138 of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Rule 13 of Companies (Accounts) Rules 2014, the Company has appointed M/s S. K. Misra and Gujrati, Chartered Accountants, an independent accounting firm to undertake the assignment of internal audit for FY 2023-24. The details regarding scope and functions of the firm is placed in the Management Discussion and Analysis Report.

Cost Auditor

The business segments of IRCTC are not covered under Cost Audit Rules notified by Ministry of Corporate Affairs. However, the Company conducted the cost audit of cost records maintained by the Rail Neer Plants on a voluntary basis only through M/s HMVN & Associates as the Cost Auditor for the year 2023-24.

o. COMMENTS OF COMPTROLLER & AUDITOR GENERAL (C&AG) OF INDIA

The Comptroller & Auditor General of India has undertaken supplementary audit on the financial statements (Standalone & Consolidated) of the Company for the year ended 31^st March, 2024 under Section 143(6) of the Companies Act, 2013.

The comments of the C&AG on the financial statements (Standalone & Consolidated) of the Company for the year ended 31^st March, 2024 shall also form part of this report.

C&AG paras from other audits : In additionto the supplementary audit of the financial statements mentioned above, the C&AG conducts various types of audits. During the FY 2023-24, the C&AG team issued three paras during the transaction audit of the IRCTC corporate office for the period related to FY 2020-21 to 2022-23. These three paras are pertaining to the operating losses of the Tejas train, Golden Chariot train, and Buddhist train operated by IRCTC. The replies have been submitted to the C&AG and are currently under scrutiny.

Part II A			Part II B			Total
No. of Para Received	No. of Para Replies	Remark	No. of Para Received	No. of Para Replies	Remark	No. of Para Received	No. of Para Replies	Remark
3	3	Under	Nil	Nil	NA	3	3	Under
Â	Â	Scrutiny of	Â	Â	Â	Â	Â	Scrutiny of
Â	Â	CAG	Â	Â	Â	Â	Â	CAG

p. DIRECTORS’ RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT

The Board of Directors of the Company in pursuance of section

134 (5) of Companies Act, 2013 confirms that:

(i)    in the preparation of the annual accounts, the applicable accounting standards have been followed along with proper explanation relating to material departures;

(ii)    the Directors have selected such accounting policies and applied them consistently and made judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent so as to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company at the end of the financial year and of the profit or loss of the company for that period;

(iii)    the Directors have taken proper and sufficient care for the maintenance of adequate accounting records in accordance with the provisions of this Act for safeguarding the assets of the company and for preventing and detecting fraud and other irregularities;

(iv)    the Directors have prepared the annual accounts on a going concern basis; and

(v)    the Directors have devised proper systems to ensure compliance with the provisions of all applicable laws and that such systems were adequate and operating effectively.

q. DIRECTORS AND KEY MANAGERIAL PERSONNEL (KMPs)

The Chairman & Managing Director (CEO), Director (Finance), Director (Catering Services), Director (Tourism & Marketing), Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary are Key Managerial Personnel (KMPs) of the Company.

The following changes have taken place in the Board of Directors and Key Managerial Personnel of your Company since the last Annual General Meeting:

1.    Smt. Seema Kumar (DIN: 10064353), former Member (Operations & Business Development)/Railway Board, who was appointed as Chairperson and Manging Director (Additional Charge) on the Board of IRCTC w.e.f. June 01, 2023, relinquished the additional charge of post of CMD/IRCTC on January 09, 2024, due to appointment of Shri Sanjay Kumar Jain (DIN: 09629741), PCCM/Northern Railway as CMD/IRCTC (Additional Charge).

2.    Shri Kamlesh Kumar Mishra (DIN: 10186377), Executive Director (Business Development), Railway Board, who was appointed as Director (Tourism & Marketing) (Additional charge) on the Board of IRCTC w.e.f. June 01, 2023, relinquished the additional charge of post of Director (Tourism & Marketing)/IRCTC on February 16, 2024, due to appointment of Shri Rahul Himalian (DIN: 10393348) as Director (Tourism & Marketing) on the Board of IRCTC.

3.    Shri Sanjay Kumar Jain (DIN: 09629741), PCCM/Northern Railway, who was appointed as Chairman and Managing Director on the Board of IRCTC, assumed additional charge w.e.f. January 10, 2024 and regular charge w.e.f. February 14, 2024.

4.    Shri Rahul Himalian (DIN: 10393348) was appointed as Director (Tourism & Marketing) on the Board of IRCTC w.e.f. February 16, 2024.

The Board of your Company wishes to place on record their sincere appreciation for the valuable services rendered by Smt. Seema Kumar (DIN: 10064353), former Member (Operations & Business Development)/Railway Board and Shri Kamlesh Kumar Mishra (DIN: 10186377), Executive Director (Business Development), Railway Board during their association with the Company.

The following directors are holding office as on the date of the report:

S. No.	Particulars	Date of Appointment
1.	Shri Sanjay Kumar Jain (DIN: 09629741) Chairman and Managing Director	Additional Charge from 10th January, 2024 to 13th February, 2024 Regular Charge from 14th February, 2024 onwards
2.	Shri Ajit Kumar (DIN: 07247362) Director (Finance)	From 29th May, 2020 onwards
3.	Dr. Lokiah Ravikumar (DIN: 10045466) Director (Catering Services)	From 11th February, 2023 onwards
4.	Shri Rahul Himalian (DIN: 10393348) Director (Tourism & Marketing)	From 16th February, 2024 onwards
5.	Shri Neeraj Sharma (DIN 08177824) ED (PM), Railway Board & Part-time Government Director	From 12th July, 2018 onwards
6.	Shri Manoj Kumar Gangeya (DIN: 09744752) ED (Planning), Railway Board & Part-time Government Director	From 21st September, 2022 onwards
7.	Shri Vinay Kumar Sharma (DIN: 03604125) Independent Director	From 9th November, 2021 onwards
8.	Shri Namgyal Wangchuk (DIN: 09397676) Independent Director	From 12th November, 2021 onwards
9.	Shri Devendra Pal Bharti (DIN: 10198557) Independent Director	From 9th June, 2023 onwards

r. INTEGRAL REPORTS

The following reports as reproduced in the table below with relevant sub-appendices form an integral part of this Directors’ Report, and have been placed with their Annexures respectively:

Name of Report(s)	| Annexure
Management Discussion and Analysis Report	“A”
Report on Corporate Governance	“B”
Annual Report on CSR and Sustainability Activities	“C”
Business Responsibility & Sustainability Report (BRSR)	“D”
Independent Assurance Statement on BRSR	“D1”
Secretarial Auditor Report	“E”
Management replies to observations contained in the Secretarial Auditor Report	“F”
Management replies to remarks contained in the Independent Auditor’s Report	“G”
Form AOC-2	“H”

The Management Discussion and Analysis Report provides an overview of the affairs of the Company, its legal status and autonomy, business environment, mission & objectives, sectoral and segment-wise operational performance, strengths, opportunities, constraints, strategy and risks and concerns, as well as human resource and internal control systems [Annexure - “A”].

The Report on Corporate Governance highlights the philosophy of Corporate Governance and Key Values of the Company, composition of its Board of Directors and its Committees, their details including profile of directors who joined the Board during 2023-24 and thereafter, attendance and remuneration of directors, declaration of independent director etc., other relevant disclosures and general information for shareholders [Annexure - “B”]. It is supplemented by the following compliance certificates:

i.    Certificate signed by the Chairman & Managing Director affirming receipt of compliance with the Code of Conduct and Key Values from all Board members and Senior Management personnel during the year 2023-24. (Placed at Appendix - “B1”);

ii.    Certificate from Chairman & Managing Director and Director Finance (CFO) with respect to the truth and fairness of the Financial Statements, due compliances, and financial reporting (placed at Appendix - “B2”);

iii.    Certificate of compliance of Corporate Governance provisions signed by a practising company secretary (placed at Appendix - “B3”);

iv.    Certificate by practising Company Secretary regarding non-disqualification of directors of the Company (placed at Appendix- “B4”).

The Annual Report on CSR and Sustainability Activities provides a brief outline of the company’s CSR and Sustainability policy, the composition of the CSR Committee, the average net profit of the Company for the last three financial years, prescribed CSR expenditure, and details of CSR spent on the activities / projects undertaken during the financial year etc. [Annexure - “C”].

As per Regulation 34 of SEBI (LODR) Regulations, 2015 the top one thousand listed entities based on market capitalisation (calculated as on March 31 of every financial year) shall include in its Annual Report, a business responsibility and sustainability report (BRSR), describing the initiatives taken by them from an environmental, social and governance perspective, in the format as specified by the SEBI from time to time.

Accordingly, considering the fact that the Company, as of 31^st March 2024, is amongst the top 1000 listed entities as per the criteria, the business responsibility and sustainability report is prepared and annexed to this report as Annexure -“D”

The independent reasoanable assurance of the core indicators of BRSR by TUV India (P) Limited is annexed as Annexure-“D-1”

Pursuant to Section 204 of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Companies (Appointment and Remuneration of Managerial Personnel) Rules, 2014, IRCTC has appointed M/s Kumar Naresh Sinha & Associates, Company Secretaries, an independent practicing firm of Company Secretaries to conduct Secretarial Audit for the financial year 2023-24. The Secretarial Audit Report for the financial year ended March 31, 2024 is annexed to this Report [Annexure -“E”].

The replies of the management to the observations contained in the Secretarial Audit Report for the FY 2023-24 are placed as Annexure-“F”

The replies of the management to the remarks/emphasis of matter made by the Independent Auditor in his report on the financial statements for the year 2023-24 are placed as Annexure-“G”

The Form AOC-2 prescribed under clause (h) of sub-section (3) of Section 134 of Companies Act and Rule (8) of the Companies (Accounts) Rules is enclosed as Annexure-“H”

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Your directors are highly grateful for all the support and guidance extended by Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Tourism, DIPAM, Ministry of Finance, Department of Public Enterprises, various State Governments, and all other departments and agencies of the Government of India in the Company’s operations and growth strategies. The Directors also express their gratitude to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (C&AG), Statutory Auditors, Secretarial Auditor, Internal Auditor and Cost Auditors for constructive suggestions and continuous cooperation.

The Directors place on record their sincere appreciation towards the Company’s valued customers and esteemed shareholders for the support and confidence reposed by them in the management of the Company and look forward to the continuance of the same in future.

The Directors wish to place on record their appreciation for the continued cooperation received from all the technology collaborators, suppliers, contractors and for the support provided by the financial institutions, bankers and stock exchanges.

Your directors also wish to express their sincere appreciation for the dedicated efforts, hard work, and commitment exhibited by all employees of IRCTC.

For and on behalf of Board of Directors

Sd/-

(Sanjay Kumar Jain)

Place: New Delhi    Chairman & Managing Director

Date: July 19, 2024    DIN: 09629741

1

Talk to Management: The employees/contractual staffs can interact with HR head of IRCTC regarding his/

---

Mar 31, 2011

The Directors have the pleasure in presenting the Twelfth Annual Report and Audited Statement of Accounts of the Corporation for the financial year ended on 31st March 2011, together with the Auditors'' Report and comments on the Accounts by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).

1. FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

During the year 2010-11, the Corporation achieved a total income of Rs 764.93 Crore, a new record, as compared to Rs 721.97 Crore in 2009-10 thereby registering a growth of approx. 6 %. Keeping in view the change in Licencee Catering Policy and reduction in service charges for internet bookings, the growth can be viewed with satisfaction.

Profit before tax of Rs 129.79 Crore (a new record) was achieved during the year 2010-2011 as compared to Rs 94.76 Crore in the previous year, thereby registering a growth of about 37%. This was achieved with several cost cutting measures, across the Corporation and particularly in the area of Departmental Catering where losses have been brought down to Rs 55 crore as compared to Rs 75 crore in the previous year. However, net profit has marginally come down from Rs 63.05 Crore in 2009-10 to Rs 60.79 Crore in 2010-2011due to higher Income tax provision. An amount of Rs 9.12 Crore has been provided towards Haulage Charges up to 20.7.2010 till the announcement of new Catering Policy 2010.

The Net Worth of the Corporation has crossed Rs 200 Crore mark and is Rs 211.41 Crore as on 31.3.2011 as compared to Rs 162.76 Crore as on 31.3.2010.

Profit earned by the Corporation has been appropriated in the following manner:

(Rs in Crore)

Particulars/Year ending 31st March, 2011 31st March, 2010

Profit Before Tax 129.79 94.76

Provision For Tax 68.06 34.52

Deferred Tax - (2.81)

Profit after Tax 60.79 63.05

Profit brought forward 12.84 9.54

Transfer to Reserves 45.00 45.00

Dividend(including Dividend Tax) 14.13 14.75

Profit carried forward to Balance Sheet 14.50 12.84

2. CONTRIBUTION TO REVENUES OF RAILWAYS:

During the year, the Corporation contributed a sum of Rs 55.59 crore to the revenues of Indian Railways as against a sum of Rs 82.28 Crore during the previous year. Contribution to the Revenues of Railways comprises Haulage Charges, Concession fee, License fee, User Charges and Dividend. In addition to the above, tickets worth Rs 8007 Crore were booked during the year as against Rs 6011 Crore during the previous year.

3. DIVIDEND

A dividend of Rs 12.16 Crore (20 % of the Net Profit) excluding dividend tax is recommended for the year 2010-11, as against Rs 12.61 crore (20% of net profit) paid in the previous year.

4. CAPITAL STRUCTURE

As on 31st March, 2011, paid-up share capital of the Corporation stood at Rs20 Crore. The Government of India holds the entire paid up share capital of the Corporation. During the year, there was no change in the paid-up share capital.

5. BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

Main Business Segments/Activities of the Corporation are as under:

I - Catering & Hospitality

II- Internet Ticketing

III- Travel & Tourism

IV- Packaged Drinking Water (Rail Neer).

I - CATERING & HOSPITALITY

The Catering business of the Corporation has grown many folds over the years due to overall improvement in the existing Catering services. Most of the Catering Units were ISO certified.

New Catering Policy 2010 was issued on 21.7.2010 by the Ministry of Railways. The Policy stipulated transfer of Licensee Catering & Departmental Catering services to Railways except Food Plazas, Fast Food Units and Food Courts. While as on 31st March, 2011, most of Licensee Catering Units have been transferred to Railways, most of the Departmental catering is continuing with IRCTC till taken over by Railways.

(i) Mobile Catering

During the year, the Mobile Catering activities of the Corporation has come down from 285 trains at the end of31.03.2010 to 33 trains as on 31.03.2011, which are all departmental trains.

IRCTC is providing catering in all newly introduced Duronto Trains. This is a challenging task since compulsory catering has been introduced in Sleeper Class for the first time on Indian Railways, as also due to infrastructural constraints on these trains.

(ii) Static Catering

In respect of Static Catering, the licensee Catering units have reduced from about 7000 units at the end of 31.03.2010 to about 250 units as on 31.03.2011, which are also in the process of being transferred to Railways.

As regards Departmental Units, all such units (approx 670) continue with IRCTC, to be transferred later in phases.

(iii) Bookstalls

Presently IRCTC is managing 1271 Book Stall Units at various railway stations on Indian Railways. Upgradation of Book Stalls and new allotments could not be undertaken since there is a stay granted by Hon''ble Supreme Court of India and Ministry of Railways has advised to maintain status quo in this regard.

(iv) Institutional Catering & Ministry Cafeteria

Besides railway catering, IRCTC has made a name for itself in various Institutions and Ministries by providing cafeteria facilities at their places on a reasonable & rational price structures. The Corporation has opened 2 such facilities, taking the total to 8, till March''11 end. Another 14 units have also been opened till August 2011. These Catering Units are fully air conditioned and have an enamoring ambience. The vegetarian and non vegetarian food which includes North Indian, South Indian, Chinese, Continental, Chaats, Snacks and Beverages are provided at reasonable prices and are widely appreciated. The food being served is of Highest Quality and adhere to ISO/HACCP standards.

(v) Budget Hotels

IRCTC is successfully running Four Hotels/Rail Yatri Niwas on PPP basis such as the Rail Yatri Niwas at New Delhi & Howrah and BNR Hotels in Ranchi and Puri (Rail Heritage Hotels). IRCTC has floated Expression of Interest setting up Budget Hotel at Bhubaneshwar, where State Government has allotted land to IRCTC.

QUALITY CONTROL SYSTEMS

IRCTC stringently adheres to HACCP/ISO 22000 and quality standards with the best in- house laboratory and R&D Center.

(i) Monitoring for HACCP compliance

Apart from senior officers having professional experience of providing catering services, the Quality Control Professionals have been deployed from all zonal offices and temporarily deployed at the various food production points to assure HACCP compliance.

(ii) Monitoring System -Customer Satisfaction Survey

The quality of Food & Service can be gauged adequately by the Customer Satisfaction Survey and IRCTC has been professionally conducting such surveys through Third Party agencies.

(iii) Food Safety Audit

Keeping in view the impact of food safety on public health, food safety audit is being conducted in IRCTC by lab testing at recognized centers through third party.

(iv) ISO Certification of Catering Units

Quality of catering services can be enhanced through various quality measures including ISO certification. IRCTC has been getting its Catering Units ISO certified through accredited agencies. Out of 158 Base Kitchens of licensees, 124 have already been covered under ISO certification. Licensee operated Base Kitchens have been transferred to Zonal Railways along with Mobile Units.

(v) Round the Clock Control Operation

In order to monitor the quality of catering services, Central Control has been set up at New Delhi which is fully equipped with Phone, Fax, PC with broadband connectivity and scanner for easy accessibility to passengers. National Toll free number has been provided. The central control is operative round the clock. In addition, all the Zonal offices also have Zonal control offices to monitor the quality of catering services. The control offices monitor catering operations and handle complaints telephonically on the spot to the satisfaction of complainant. In case of any abnormality of train operation, control offices inform all concerned service providers for making provision of catering services so as to avoid any public inconvenience.

II-INTERNET TICKETING:

The E-Ticketing Performance

E- ticketing has been one of the biggest success stories of e-governance and has revolutionized the way the common man deals with the railway. It has resulted in great benefits in terms of convenience, time & energy saving as well as transparency and reduction in corruption.

The rapid growth in E-ticketing has been possible not only because Of the ease of the entire process for the customers but also due to a very robust process set up for doing e-reservation which facilitates bookings for all types of credit cards, most major debit cards, cash cards facility, Net Banking facility and five major payment gateways. This is also strengthened by an online instantaneous refund process. The common man, not having computer / net access, is also able to get the e-tickets through various outlets (approx. 1.5 lakh) across 500 cities & towns. To further help the passengers, the online process of booking during 8 to 9AM (the crucial booking hours) was restricted during the year only for direct passengers by prohibiting the agents. Several drives were also launched during the year so as to curb unauthorized practices in E-ticket bookings by unscrupulous people. The system of registration was also strengthened. An IT Anti Fraud Cell has also been set up during the year. The site was made more user friendly and also technologically advanced. Security & process Audits were got conducted through SQTC to identify vulnerabilities in the system & same were got rectified. The process is on going.

Internet Ticketing services continue to go from strength to strength. It is handling over 40% of the reserved train accommodation of Indian Railways. Recently we achieved a record of over 4 Lakhs tickets in a single day. The value of tickets booked has gone up to Rs 8,007 Crore during the year 2010-11 as against Rs 6,011 Crore during the previous year. Number of tickets booked (both E and I tickets) through IRCTC website during the year 2010-11has gone up to 9.69 Crore tickets (17.42 crore passengers) as against 7.20 Crore tickets ( 12.92 crore passengers) booked during 2009-10.

The booking of railway tickets through internet is now available from 00:30 Hrs to 23:30 Hrs 365 days a year. IRCTC is in the process of further enhancement of the existing infrastructure to further improve services to the customers.

139 RAILSAMPARK

IRCTC manages the enquiry services of Indian Railways known as Rail Sampark 139 (Integrated Train Enquiry System of Indian Railways) on PPP basis. In 2010-11, 24.68 crore voice calls and 2.61 crore SMS were handled as compared to 23.11 crore voice calls and 1.25 crore SMS in 2009-10.

III. TRAVEL & TOURISM

IRCTC offers a wide range of Travel & Tourism products and services to meet the requirements of different segments of tourists. These include Bharat Darshan tourist trains, Bharat Tirth trains, Educational Tours, Mahaparinirvan Express Buddhist Circuit Special Train, Rail and Land Tour Packages, Chartered Trains & Coaches, Hill Charters, Luxury Tourist Train, Cab Rental Services, On-line hotel booking services, Online Air ticketing and Budget Hotels.

Travel & Tourism Business generated an income of Rs 67.04 Crore in the year 2010-11 as compared to Rs 44.72 crore in the year 2009-10 recording a growth of 50%.

Bharat Darshan Tourist Train (Village on Wheels):

IRCTC operates Bharat Darshan tourist trains for the budget segment where the traveler gets to see India at a price of Rs 500/- a day including rail travel, road travel, meals, sightseeing, accommodation and insurance. 60 Bharat Darshan trips were operated across the country with a total of 23,636 passengers during the year 2010-11 as against 57 trips with 22,621 passengers during the previous year. IRCTC has won the GMR Travel World Award 2010 for "Excellence in Operations" for its Bharat Darshan tours.

Mahaparinirvan Express - Buddhist Circuit Special Train

The Mahaparinirvan Express offers a 7 Nights / 8 Days all inclusive tour covering various destinations of the Buddhist Circuit and has been launched with the objective of providing a safe, comfortable and reliable tour package for international as well as domestic travelers on this circuit. This train has been awarded the National Tourism Award of Excellence in February 2009 by the Ministry of Tourism. During 2010-11, the train carried 1,367 passengers as compared to 1,039 passengers in the year 2009-10 recording an increase of 32%.

Tour Packages

IRCTC also operates all inclusive Rail Tour Packages across the country, which include confirmed rail travel, road transfers, accommodation, meals and sight-seeing at reasonable rates. During 2010-11, a total of 49,308 passengers availed IRCTC tour packages as against 43,258 passengers during the previous year.

Educational Tours

IRCTC operated educational tours for students under its "travel to learn"scheme and tied up with the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Tamil Nadu Government, Assam Government, Jammu and Kashmir Government as well as private schools for operating educational tours for children. In the year 2010-11, 20,441 students and teachers availed the facility of educational tours as compared to 12,729 students and teachers in the year 2009-10.

Chartered Trains and Coaches

IRCTC operated 243 train/coach charters in the year 2010-11as against 248 charters during the previous year. The company also operated 80 hill charters in the year 2010-11 as against 36 during the previous year.

Corporate Travel

IRCTC also ventured into the field of Corporate travel in 2010-11 and is offering complete Travel services to Corporates which include air ticketing, booking of domestic as well as international hotels, cab rental, passport and visa facilitation, insurance & forex.

Tourism Portal

IRCTC''s tourism portal, www.railtourismindia.com. is a One Stop Travel Shop. The portal, which won the National Tourism Award in the year 2008, is increasingly becoming popular

among the travelers and offers various Travel and Tourism services such as on-line booking of tourist trains, tour packages, hotels, cab rental as well as air tickets.

Maharajas'' Express

This is a top end luxury train which is owned by IRCTC and managed by Royale Indian Rail Tours Limited. The Pan India luxury tourist train operated 28 trips carrying 1,030 tourists in the year 2010-11.

Bharat Tirth

IRCTC launched Bharat Tirth Tourist Trains in February 2011 in fulfillment of announcement made by Hon''ble Minister for Railways in the Budget Speech of 2010. The trains provide three categories of packages (viz. Budget, Standard and Deluxe packages) for meeting requirements of different segments of tourists. In all 4 trips were operated in the year carrying 1,443 passengers.

IV PACKAGED DRINKING WATER (RAILNEER)

During the year 2010-2011, two plants manufacturing Rail Neer Packaged Drinking Water were in operation at Nangloi (Delhi) and Danapur (Bihar). The production of Rail Neer at Nangloi and Danapur was 3.28 crores and 3.12 crores bottles respectively as against installed capacity of 3.34 crores bottles at each plant. Turnover for the segment for the year 2010-11 was Rs 23.96 crore, which did not include intersegment sale amounting to Rs 19.36 crore.

Rail Neer produced at Nangloi is distributed on mobile trains and to static catering units primarily in Delhi area and other states such as Haryana, Punjab, Uttara Khand, West U.P and Rajasthan. In addition, supply is also made to Parliament House, PMO, Railway Board and Ministry of External Affairs etc.

Rail Neer produced at Danapur is distributed to states of Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, EastU.P, Assam and Orissa.

During the year Rail Neer Plant, Danapur got certification of quality management system as per ISO- 9001-2008. Rail Neer Plant, Nangloi is also in the process of getting certification.

The result of the test, carried out by accredited laboratories on Rail Neer Packaged Drinking Water indicate that the quality of Rail Neer conforms to Europeon Economic Community (EEC) norms for pesticide residue.

One more Packaged Drinking Water Plant with installed capacity of 1.8 lac bottles/day has also been set at Palur (Chennai) and has become operational in July 2011.

6. COMMONWEALTH GAMES DELHI -2010

The Commonwealth Games was held in Delhi in 2010 and were set the largest international multi-sporting event held in India since the 1982 Asian Games. The Games were held over a period of 12 days from 3rd October to 14th October, 2010 and majority Athletes and Technical official were catered to from 23rd September (training Period) onwards and had participation from over 7,000 athletes from 71 Commonwealth Games Associations. The management and provision of Commonwealth Games ticketing, all off-board arrangements for CWG Special Shatabdi Train at Agra and the catering arrangements at SPM and Talkatora Stadiums were a feather in IRCTC''s cap. The details are as under:-

CWG TICKETING - IRCTC was appointed as the official ticketing agency for the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010, Delhi which was one of the largest international multi- sporting event to be held in India since the 1982 Asian Games.

It successfully handled the ticketing operations for the event for a total seating inventory of

1.4 million seats for 290 sporting session in 17 sports at 12 venues over 12 days.

This mammoth job covered the complete gamut up to final delivery of tickets to customers including: -

- Design, delivery and management of the ticketing technology platform.

- Development and management of integrated online real time transactional website call centers & manual outlets for booking of tickets and customer service.

- Operationalizing and managing ticket box offices at the venues.

- Training and management of ticketing staff.

- Fulfillment of ticketing orders including ticketing, printing and delivery (domestic & international).

- Logistics of managing physical inventory and cash collections.

- Conflict resolution at the venues.

This was achieved by entering into a consortium with M/s Broad Vision (for software support) and M/s Ticket pro (for ticketing expertise).

Performance of IRCTC has been commended by all concerned including the Shungloo Committee examining various CWG projects.

CWG TOURISM -ASpecial Shatabdi Train was run by IRfor the CWG sports persons and officials - IRCTC operated and provided off-board arrangements for visit of over 3000 CWG athletes and officials at Agra during October, 2010 in collaboration with UP Tourism. The services were highly appreciated by the guests.

CWG CATERING - IRCTC catered for Package #2 at SPM (AQUATICS) & Talkatora (Boxing) Lounges for Athletes & Team Officials, Technical Officials, Media, and VIP & Games Family. IRCTC provided outstanding catering service for the above groups at different lounges where over 3500 meals per day were served. IRCTC was highly commended for professional friendly service and comprehensive menu which was a melange of Indian and International delicacies.

7. FUTURE GROWTH STRATEGIES

IRCTC at this juncture is having a fresh look at its business segments, through introspection. It is set to take new initiatives in various fields to face the tough challenge that it is faced with.

The Corporation aims to grow by leaps and bounds. For this purpose BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOALS are being set aiming to become a Rs 2500 crore company by FY''15. We are aiming high especially keeping in view ofthe fact that the Turnover target for FY''12 is only Rs 500 crore, much lower than Rs 765 crore achieved during the current year. To get anywhere near the aim for FY''15, Railways unstinted support is solicited. It needs rational & positive policy initiatives from the Ministry in respect of Budget Hotels, Rail Neer, e-ticketing, terminal management, commercial advertising and Tourism products.

There is also a need to look at what more non core activities can be transferred to the Corporation from Ministry of Railways. The corporation needs to be empowered to fulfill its initial mandate of Budget Hotels and grow into this area on a war footing.

Over the years, IRCTC has developed extensive capabilities in the fields of hospitality, catering, tourism, package drinking water and e-commerce. It has a Pan India presence with grid of Zonal, Regional and Station officers in major cities, more than 1500 Hospitality Professionals from reputed IHMs, expertise in mass food production, distribution and quality control, complex operations management in-house and outsource model, development of hi-end catering facilities, designing, upgrading and consultancy in Hospitality projects, expertise in commissioning and operating of hi-end and low-end tourism products, expertise in Tourism management, extensive experiences building and operating PDW plans and serving demand of IR network and largest e-commerce website in Asia-Pacific.

IRCTC is taking various initiatives to leverage on its expertise and experience and grow many fold in the coming years as detailed below:

A. CATERING & HOSPITALITY - Future Potential and Planning

IRCTC is accelerating its efforts for capturing the Catering & Hospitality Business by taking various initiatives.

(i) Non-Railway Catering

Large no. of future projects have been identified and are at various stages in the pipeline for non railway catering segment. Some of the major ones are:

- Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), New Delhi

- Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi

- Rourkela Steel Plant, Rourkela, Orissa

- SAI Sports Hostel at JNS& IG, New Delhi

- National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship & Management-Kundli (NIFTEM)

(ii) Facility Management

IRCTC with its partners also provides a professional Facility Management in some of the Prominent Institutes. IRCTC provides one window solution for Catering, Front office and Facility Management solutions includes Housekeeping, Security, Laundry, Landscape Management, Maintenance and AMC etc. Our Facility Management Services are especially molded for the optimal utilization of the available resources to provide excellent Services to the Institutes. We have a team of expert especially trained to execute undertaken projects as per the requirement of the clients.

(iii) Central Kitchen

IRCTC is opening a state of art Central Kitchen (Food Factory) with a capacity of about 25000 meals per day .This, one of its kind state of art Food Factory in the region is in Line with the major Air Flight Catering Kitchens to produce meals of high quality and standard. The food factory will be fully automated with equipment from the best manufactures and professionals from India & abroad. The menu though limited initially to vegetarian, non-vegetarian and combo meals (Indian/Chinese) will be produced with cleanliness and hygiene, as the hall mark.

(iv) DMRC

IRCTC with DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation) New Delhi is soon planning to come up with over 130 Kiosk across Delhi-NCR at suitable Metro stations in a Phase wise manner, where it shall provide, Metro Commuters with a wide variety of quality food & beverages.

(v) HPCL/BPCL MOU

IRCTC has entered into MoU with leading Petrolieum PSUs for setting up for Food Plazas, Motels and other travelers facilities at suitable petrol outlets on PAN India basis. This has great potential keeping in view of the fact that Government''s emphasis of making more than 20000 kms express ways in the near future.

(vi) Budget Hotel

IRCTC wants to actively pursue the process of establishing Budget Hotels across Major tourists and religious destinations & Management of existing Rail Yatri Niwas and Budget Hotel / Resorts / Motel. Budget Hotel at all major railway stations where possible with a PPP (Public Private Partnership) to provide Rail Passengers a High Standard Clean accommodation Facility at reasonable price in the vicinity of the Station. This will of course require a clear and rational policy initiative from Ministry of Railways.

B. INTERNET TICKETING - Future potential and planning:

The IRCTC website is presently catering to over 40% of total PRS tickets of Indian Railways. With the increasing telecom and internet connectivity in the country, there is huge potential for further growth. In order to meet the future demand, capacity enhancement of the infrastructure is in process. In this direction, setting up of state of art data center, installation of high capacity servers, upgradation of internet bandwidth are at advanced stage of implementation.

C. TOURISM - Future potential & planning

IRCTC''s vision is " To be the leading provider of high quality travel and tourism services in the country". Your Corporation is planning to further expand tourism business in the coming years by expanding existing business lines as well as development of new lines such as Corporate travel as well as inbound travel services for individual travelers. Specific focus areas for the future are

- Educational Tours : IRCTC would continue to be the leading provider of specially designed packages "with strong educational content & a caring environment" to meet the needs of educational institutions across the country under its "Travel to Learn" scheme.

- Corporate Travel: IRCTC will continue to focus on providing cost effective and efficient travel solutions to Corporates, especially PSUs.

- Buddhist Circuit Travel: IRCTC aims to further increase services on this circuit by launching a special train from Chennai and is also working on development of a new train for replacing existing Mahaparinirvan Express Services.

- Deluxe Tourist Train: IRCTC plans to capture a niche available for domestic & international tourists with a package in the range of about USD 250 per day.

- Online Travel: IRCTC would continue to strengthen its position as the biggest E- Commerce site and focus on offering value for money online travel solutions to a range of customer segments.

- Rail Tour Packages: IRCTC would continue to strengthen its portfolio of comprehensive rail based packages utilizing regular train services.

D. PACKAGED DRINKING WATER - Future potential & planning

- As per one study, daily requirement of Packaged Drinking Water over Indian Railway network is approx 30 lac bottles/day, against which, at present IRCTC produces 2 lac bottles/day, which shall become 3.8 lac bottles/day by end of 2011. From year 2013, when plant at Ambernath (Mumbai) is commissioned, IRCTC will have capacity to produce 5.8 lac bottles/day, which shall be about 15% of total requirement.

- Ambernath plant will have capacity of 2 lakh bottles per day at estimated cost of Rs 19 crores. With optimum project management, work is likely to be completed by end of year 2012-13 & commercial production will start in 2013. The site location and plans have been finalized.

- To increase bottling capacity, IRCTC is in process of setting up Joint Venture with participation from Private Industry. The Joint Venture firm will set up more Packaged Drinking Water Plants across the country. Two potential sites identified, are at Nagpur and Hyderabad.

- Ministry of Railways has decided to set up six packaged drinking water plants under mode.

8. AWARDS I RECOGNITION

In recognition of the excellent performance of the Corporation in various fields, the

following awards have been conferred on IRCTC during the year:

- The 3rd DSIJ PSU Award 2011, for being fastest growing non-manufacturing companies with balance-sheet size less than Rs 4000 Crore. The Company was awarded ''Speed King (Miniratna)'' - April, 2011.

- The SKOCH''s - The World Open Award for Integrated Train Enquiry System (ITES) from the Controller of Certifying Authority, Government of India - Oct., 2010.

- The India Pride Award-Gold from Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Hon''ble Union Minister of Finance, for Internet Ticketing - Sept., 2010.

9. HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING INITIATIVES

During the year 2010-2011, training to more than 3500 persons engaged with the Corporation was imparted on various aspect of their work. The training programmes were organised at Customer Care Centre of the Corporation in Delhi and reputed Regional and Government institutes.

10. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

Cordial industrial relations were maintained during the year.

11. VIGILANCE

11.1 The Vigilance Department is presently headed by full fledged Chief Vigilance Officer and has constantly endeavoured to emphasize on "preventive Vigilance" to improve upon systems and procedures and leaving minimum scope for discretion. It also ensured to enforce discipline in exercising power in a judicious way in matters relating to administrative and financial functions.

11.2 The Vigilance set up in IRCTC has been an effective managerial tool in enhancing the performance of the Corporation byway of advising functional Divisions to systematize/ document the policies/ procedures.

11.3 The vigilance Awareness Week was organized during 25th October, 2010 to 1st November, 2010. Various programmes/ lectures were arranged in all the offices of the IRCTC with a view to create awareness about preventive measures through system improvement and use of Information technology.

11.4 Performance of the Vigilance Department is reviewed regularly by the CVC and Managing Director/ IRCTC.

11.5 IRCTC has implemented the "Integrity Pact" program in line with the recommendations of Central Vigilance Commission to bring the internationally acclaimed best practices for raising integrity levels in procurement of works and services etc. The adoption of Integrity Pact by IRCTC has helped in establishing healthy business practices.

12. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

The Corporation continued its thrust on the Official language implementation in-line with Govt, of India''s Policy. Several steps were taken to increase the use of Rajbhasha in the Corporation and the Corporation has proved its commitment to ensure the implementation of the Rajbhasha Policy.

The Corporation has made all efforts to increase the use of official language for its continued propagation, various activities like organizing workshops; to give training, meetings, essay competition, cultural activities, Publication of bilingual House Magazine PRERNA etc. For outstanding and noteworthy contribution in Hindi, number of incentives and reward schemes are in force.

During the financial year 2010-11, the Second Sub Committee of the Parliamentary Official language Committee inspected the office of the Corporation in order to review the use of Hindi in the Corporation. The Committee appreciated the use of Hindi by Corporation.

13. MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS REPORT

The Report on Management Discussion and Analysis is placed as per Annexure-I to this report.

14. PARTICULARS OF EMPLOYEES

As required under the provisions of Section 217(2A) of the Companies Act, 1956 read with the Companies (Particulars of Employees) Rules, 1975, none of the employees were drawing salaries and allowance beyond the limit stipulated therein.

15. PARTICULARS OF ENERGY CONSERVATION. TECHNOLOGY ABSORPTION. FOREIGN EXCHANGE EARNINGS AND OUTGO ETC

Details as per the provisions of Section 217(1)(e) of the Companies Act, 1956 read with the Companies (Disclosure of Particulars in the Report of Board of Directors) Rules 1988 regarding Conservation of Energy, Technology Absorption, Foreign Exchange Earnings and Outgo is given as per Annexure-ll.

16. DIRECTORS'' RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT

Pursuant to the requirement under Section 217(2AA) of the Companies Act, 1956, with respect to Director''s Responsibilities Statement; it is hereby confirmed:

(i) That in the preparation of annual accounts for the financial year ended 31st March, 2011, the applicable accounting standards have been followed.

(ii) That the directors have selected such accounting policies and applied them consistently and made judgments and estimates that were reasonable and prudent so as to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Corporation at the end of the financial year and profit and loss of the Corporation for the period under review.

(iii) That the directors have taken proper and sufficient care for the maintenance of adequate accounting records in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956, for safeguarding the assets of the Corporation and for preventing and detecting fraud and other irregularities.

(iv) That the directors have prepared the annual accounts for the financial year ended 31st March, 2011, on a going concern'' basis.

17. COMMENTS OF COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL

The Comments on the accounts for the year ended 31st March, 2011 by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India under Section 619(4) of the Companies Act, 1956 forms part of the Annual Report.

18. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND MOU SIGNING

A report on Corporate Governance, forming part of this report, is given in Annexure-III. The certificate on Corporate Governance obtained from the practicing Company Secretary is given in the Annexure-IV to this report.

The Corporation has also signed an MOU with the Government of India, Ministry of Railways thereby laying inter alia the physical and financial targets for the year 2010-11.

19. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

IRCTC''s Corporate Social Responsibility Policy is "To remain a responsible Corporate entity mindful of its social responsibilities to all stakeholders including railway passengers, customers, consumers, shareholders, employees, local community and society at large". An amount of Rs 2.25 Crore has been earmarked by the Corporation for CSR Activities for the year 2010-11.

IRCTC has undertaken the following measures towards fulfilling it CSR obligations:

Jaipur Foot

CSR Project was taken in association with Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS) (also known as ''Jaipur Foot'') to provide Artificial Limbs /Calipers and hand paddled tricycles to physically challenged people. Vide this project 957 physically challenged people were benefitted. The cost ofthe project was Rs 25.37 lacs. The project started in Delhi and Jaipur on 8th March, 2011 and completed on 25th March, 2011.

Meri Dilli Meri Yamuna

Under Meri Dilli Meri Yamuna drive to keep Yamuna clean, a project has been taken in association with Shajanabad Re-development Corporation (SRDC), Government of NCT of Delhi and Art of Living Foundation'' of Sri Sri Ravishankarji. Vide this project, the Chat pooja Ghat at ITO will be developed into a picnic spot with separate immersion area for pooja material and flowers and provisions for walkways, lighting, trees, grass, toilets, etc. .An amount of Rs 56 lacs has been sanctioned as IRCTC''s contribution to the project.

Sulabh Toilet Complex on Buddhist Circuit

Project for construction and maintenance of Sulabh Complex (Public Toilet) is taken in association with Sulabh International. The project is proposed to be developed on the Buddhist Circuit route from Gorakhpur (near Anand Nagar, Pharendra) to Nautanva in the district of Maharajganj, Uttar Pradesh for Tourist and other travellers on Buddhist Circuit. Land allocation is done by UP Govt and project activities have commenced. The estimated cost of the Project is Rs 25.11 lacs.

Vocational Training

Project is taken up in association with Institute of Hotel Management (IHM), Pusa, Under the project financial assistance would be provided to 5 meritorious students including at least one girl student. The Project is expected to cost the company Rs 18 lacs.

Other Activities

- Preventing spillage of garbage and ensuring safe disposal of garbage in Railway premises and reduce consumption.

- Planting of trees

20. SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT:

IRCTC has undertaken the following measures for ensuring sustainable business development:

- Utilization of solar energy at Base Kitchens and Refreshment Rooms.

- Collection and disposal of used Rail Neer Bottles to prevent its misuse.

- Rainwater harvesting at Railneer plants to preserve the ground water level.

- Installation of environment friendly CDTS toilets in the Buddhist Circuit Special Train as well as the Maharajas'' Express.

- Introduced Induction Cooking System to minimize fire hazards in Railway premises and to reduce electricity consumption.

- Safe discharge of waste water in Solar Pits to recharge the water table in the earth and correcting ecological balances.

- Using environment friendly products for packaging of food items and serving of beverages.

- Food and Safety audits for minimizing health hazard.

21. AUDITORS

M/s Bhushan Bensal Jain Associates, Chartered Accountants, New Delhi were appointed as Corporation''s Statutory Auditors for the year 2010-2011 by Comptroller and Auditor General of India, New Delhi.

22. BOARD OF DIRECTORS

At present, the Board of the Corporation consists of a part-time Chairman, Managing Director, three Functional Directors, one Government Nominee Official Directors and two part time non-official Directors.

The Board met five (5) times during the year for transacting business. Following Directors held office as on the date of the Report: -

Shri Vinay Mittal, Chairman,

Shri Rakesh Kumar Tandon, Managing Director,

Shri.Nalin Shinghal, Director (Tourism & Marketing),

Shri Vinod Asthana, Director (Catering Services),

Shri Vishwa Ranjan Gupta, Director(Finance)

Smt. ManiAnand, Government Director

Shri R.N. Bhardwaj, Independent Director

Shri R.K.Agrawal, Independent Director

Shri Vinay Mittal, Chairman & Member Traffic, Railway Board joined the Board ofthe Corporation as Chairman on 26.07.2011 in place of Shri VivekSahai, who ceased to be Director of the Corporation on attaining superannuation from the services of Ministry of Railways. The Board wishes to place on record its appreciation and gratitude for the valuable guidance and services rendered by Shri Vivek Sahai during his association as Chairman of IRCTC.

Shri Naresh Salecha, Executive Director, F(C), Part-time Government director, ceased to be director ofthe Corporation w.e.f 01.12.2010. Shri Jagdeep S. Chhokar and Shri Alok Shivapuri, Independent Directors ceased to be director on completion of their tenure of three years on 27.05.2011. The Board wishes to place on record its appreciation for the valuable guidance and services rendered by Shri Naresh Salecha, Shri Jagdeep S. Chhokar and Shri Alok Shivapuri during their association on the Board of Directors of Corporation.

23. AUDIT COMMITTEE

An Audit Committee of the Board of Directors was earlier constituted by the Corporation. The Audit Committee of Board of Directors met Four (4) times during the year for transacting business and following Audit Committee Members held office during the year 2010-11:-

Shri R. N. Bhardwaj, Independent Director Shri R.K. Agarwal, Independent Director Shri AlokShivapuri, Independent Director Shri Jagdeep S. Chhokar, Independent Director Shri VinodAsthana, Director(Catering Services)

Shri R.N. Bhardwaj has been elected as Chairman of the Audit Committee.

24. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & APPRECIATION

The Board of Directors place on record their grateful thanks for the guidance and cooperation extended all through by the Ministry of Railways without whose active support the achievements by the Corporation during the year under review would not have been possible.

The Board of Directors is also extremely grateful to its valued customers and licensees.

The Board also acknowledges with thanks the constructive suggestions received from C&AG of India, Statutory Auditors and Internal Auditors.

Last but not the least, the Board wishes to place on record its appreciation for the untiring efforts and contributions made by the employee at all levels, to ensure that the Company continues to grow and excel.

For and on behalf of the Board of Directors

Sd/- (Vinay Mittal) Chairman

Place: New Delhi

Date : 20th September, 2011

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Mar 31, 2010

The Directors have the pleasure in presenting the Eleventh Annual Report together with Audited Statement of Accounts of the Corporation for the financial year ended on 31st March 2010.

1. FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

During the year 2009-10, the Corporation achieved a total income of Rs 721.97 Crore as compared to Rs618.77 Crore in 2008-09 thereby registering a growth of approx. 17 %. The increase in income was achieved mainly due to quantum jump in internet ticketing (from Rs 74.81 Crore to Rs 112.07 Crore) and tourism activities (from Rs 27.94 Crore to Rs 44.73 Crore).

Quantum jump in internet ticketing was witnessed due to excellent level of service and upgraded infrastructure. The growth in tourism business was achieved due to IRCTC''s focused approach on developing tourism business segment.

A net profit of Rs 63.05 Crore was earned during 2009-10 as compared to Rs 46.50 Crore in 2008-09 due to enhanced revenue and control on expenditure. An amount of Rs30.00 Crore has been provided towards Haulage Charges as was provided during the previous year. As at 31st March 2010, the Reserves and Surplus of the Corporation stood at Rs 142.76 Crore. The Net Worth went up from Rs 114.46 Crore during the previous year to Rs 162.76 Crore during the year under review.

Profit earned by the Corporation has been appropriated in the following manner:

(Rs in Crore)

Particulars/Year ending 31st March, 2010 31st March, 2009

Profit Before Tax 94.76 73.85

Provision For Tax 34.52 27.42

Provision for fringe benefit tax -- 0.65

Deferred Tax (2.81) (0.72)

Profit after Tax 63.05 46.50

Profit brought forward 9.54 8.93

Tax adjustment for the prior years

Deferred Tax for Previous year Nil Nil

Transfer to Reserves 45.00 35.00

Dividend (Including Dividend Tax) 14.75 10.89

Profit carried forward to Balance Sheet 12.84 9.54

2. CONTRIBUTION TO REVENUES OF RAILWAYS:

During the year the Corporation contributed a sum of Rs 82.28 crore to the revenues of Indian Railways as against a sum of Rs 76.54 Crore during the previous year. Contribution to the Revenues of Railways comprises Haulage Charges, Concession fee, License fee, User Charges and Dividend. The sharing of revenues with the various Zonal Railways has been made in terms of Memorandum of Understanding dated 17th January, 2007. In addition to the above, tickets worth Rs6011 Crore were booked during the year as against Rs 3889 Crore during the previous year.

3. BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

Mobile Catering - Licensee

As on 31.3.2010, the Corporation was managing catering services in 262 trains with the break up as follows -

(i) 14 Rajdhani

(ii) 14 Shatabdi

(iii) 16 Jan Shatabdi

(iv) 16 Sampark Kranti

(v) 202 Mail Express Trains

During the year 2009-2010, tendering of all major units was put on hold by Ministry of Railways vide letter dated 14.07.2009 due to policy instructions.

Static Catering - Licensee

During the year 13 Food Plazas/Fast Food Unit were commissioned, taking total to 78 Food Plazas/Fast Food Units on Indian Railways. 22 Cell Kitchens, a new concept, to upgrade the existing RRs and to discourage the cooking on platforms, have been commissioned. During the year 83 Milk Stalls, to promote State Dairy Co-operatives at Railway Stations, were awarded. Total No. of milk stalls awarded are 699 on Indian Railways. In addition to the above, IRCTC is managing 805 Automatic Vending Machines, 196 Refreshment Rooms, 2513 stalls, 3387 trolleys/khomchas, 1271 Book Stalls/Counters over 1008 stations on Indian Railways.

Departmental Catering

Mobile Catering: 6 Rajdhani, 9 Duronto and 8 Mail/Express Trains were operational as on 31.03.2010. Ahmedabad Rajdhani train was taken over under departmental operation from October, 2009. All the 9 newly introduced Duronto Trains were also taken over for departmental management during the year 2009-

10. Train Side Vending services on 12 Trains were also under departmental operation.

Static Catering: Total 647 Static Units including 385 stalls and 227 trolleys were under departmental operation during the year.

Jan Aahar: To provide low cost wholesome food and regional cuisine to common passengers, 25 Jan Aahar outlets were also commissioned to provide affordable quality food at various stations.

The departmental catering during the year 2009-10 has suffered a loss of Rs 74.75 crore. This has been primarily due to the following reasons:-

(a) Higher material cost due to increased raw material prices.

(b) Increasing HR cost due to -

(i) Increase in annual salary; and

(ii) Augmentation of staff for manning Jan Ahaar outlets and Duronto trains.

Outstanding Dues

Comparative position of the outstanding dues is as follows:-

(Rs in Crore)

Particulars As on 31.03.10 As on 31.3.2009

Railways 144.16 154.71

Non Railway 88.16 85.01

Total 232.32 239.72

During the year, the Sundry Debtors decreased from Rs239.72 crore to Rs232.32 crore.

Tourism Activities:

During the year, the Corporation undertook the following business:

- Tour Packages: During 2009-10, a total of 43,258 passengers availed of IRCTC tour packages (rail tour packages and land tour packages) as against 31,943 passengers during the previous year.

- 248 Train / Coach Charters were undertaken by the Corporation as against 159 Charters during the previous year.

- 57 Bharat Darshan- Village on Wheels trips were operated with a total of 22,621 passengers as against 47 trips with 18,801 passengers during the previous year.

- 36 Charters were operated on hill railways as against 25 Charters operated during the previous year. Mahaparinirvan Express, Buddhist Circuit Special Train

During its Third season, the train has gained popularity with an increase of almost 110 % in number of passengers. A multi-pronged marketing strategy has been put in place for the forthcoming season.

Bharat Darshan:

All the three Bharat Darshan rakes (East Zone, West Zone, and South Zone) were operated and marketed by IRCTC during the year. A total of 57 trips were operated with, 22,621 passengers.

Educational Tours:

7,829 students and teachers have availed the facility of educational tours as against 22,801 students and teachers during the last year to various destinations. The decline was due to shifting of Delhi Govt. business to various State Tourism Corporations etc.

During the year, IRCTC made a tie-up with the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan for operating Educational Trips under its ''travel and learn'' scheme. A tie-up was made with Tamil Nadu Government for operating educational tours for children from backward and under privileged classes under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan scheme, under which 3,272 children participated.

Maharajas'' Express:

Construction of IRCTC''s top end luxury tourist train - the Maharajas'' Express was completed in the current year. The train made two trial trips from 6th - 13th and 14th - 20th March, 2010 and was formally flagged of on 20th March, 2010 at Kolkata by Hon''ble Minister for Railways, Km. Mamta Banerjee.

Service Quality and Improvement

IRCTC continuously strives to upgrade its products and services. Towards this end, a multi pronged service monitoring and improvement system has been put in place for taking feedback from individual customers and linking the payments to service providers to the feedback received from customers.

Internet Ticketing:

During the year 2009-10, the number of tickets booked (both E and I tickets) through IRCTC website www.irctc.co.in has gone upto 7.20 Crore tickets as against 4.41Crore tickets booked during the previous year. The value of tickets booked has gone upto Rs 6,011 crore during the year as against Rs 3,889 crore during the previous year. Ticket bookings touched a daily high of 3,07,214 tickets and crossed over 60 Lac tickets sales per month for many months during the year. Average tickets sold per day through IRCTC''s website were 2,55,445 tickets during March, 2010.

Integrated Train Enquiry System (139-Rail Sampark Call Centre):

IRCTC is managing a Call Center for passenger enquiry. A customer can dial 139 from anywhere in the country and get all information from Call Center related to train timing, PNR confirmation, train routes and other relevant information related to Indian Railways.

Tourism Portal

IRCTC continue to strengthen its national tourism award winning tourism portal www.railtourismindia.com, as a One Stop Travel Shop meeting all the travel & tourism needs of customers. This includes online booking of tour packages, hotels, air tickets and Cab Rental across the country.

Packaged Drinking Water (Railneer):

Two Plants of Railneer Packaged Drinking water are operating at Nangloi (Delhi) and Danapur (Bihar). During the year, the production of Railneer at Nangloi and Danapur was 3.19 Crore and 2.23 Crore bottles respectively. During the year, the capacity of Danapur Plant was increased from 5,500 Cartons per day to 8,500 Cartons per day.

Two Railneer Plants at Palur (Tamil Nadu and Ambernath (Maharashtra) are being set up.

The distribution of the Railneer is being done at various Railway Stations, in addition to, supplies to Parliament House, PMO, Railway Board and Ministry of External Affairs etc.

The results of the tests carried out by accredited laboratories on Railneer Packaged Drinking Water indicate that the quality of Railneer, conforms to Europeon Economic Community (EEC) norms for pesticides residue.

4. QUALITY CONTROL AND COMPLAINT REDRESSAL SYSTEM

During the year, the following initiatives were taken for ensuring quality control & timely redressal of public complaints:-

- Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) / Process Defining

As a step towards standardization of catering services in the areas of food production and onboard services, booklet on Base Kitchens - Guidelines for setting up, operations & maintenance, Operations Manual for Mobile Catering, Food Safety Assurance Program, Launderette, House Keeping & Kitchen Stewarding have been issued.

- Raw Material Quality / Cost Cutting Measures

In order to have proper quality of raw materials for food production at Base Kitchens, a system of short listing suppliers for supply of raw materials is in place and branded players as well as Retail Chain Suppliers have been short listed. The introduction of Hamper System on the lines of Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) has resulted in the improvement in quality of raw materials on one hand and cost cutting on the other hand.

- ISO Certification

Out of 158 Base Kitchens of licensees, 81 have already been covered under ISO certification and remaining are to be covered in due course of time. Recently, Departmental Base Kitchen at RJPB and Patna Rajdhani (2309-10) has been ISO 22000:2005 Certified during 2009-10. Due to ISO certification of catering units, there has been consistent & perceptive improvement in the quality of catering services.

- Staff Training and Empowerment

In order to ensure proper service standards in the onboard catering services as well as at the Base Kitchens, concerned service and food production staff are being imparted training on grooming as well as F&B services on regular basis. IRCTC has Customer Care Institute at Kishan Ganj, New Delhi for regular training to the service staff of IRCTC as well as of service providers. Training courses are also organized in association with IHM, Pusa as well as at National Institute of Training for Standardization (NITS) of BIS at Noida.

- Control Monitoring

In order to monitor the quality of catering services overall, Central Control has been set up at New Delhi which is fully equipped with Phone, Fax, PC with broadband connectivity and scanner and round the clock operation. All the zonal offices are also having Zonal control offices to monitor the quality of catering services. The control offices monitor catering operations and handle complaints telephonically on the spot to the satisfaction of complainant. In case of any abnormality of train operation, control offices inform all concerned service provider for making provision of catering services so as to avoid any public complaint.

- Inspections - by QCP/IRCTC officials

A number of special drives have been conducted on premium trains including Rajdhani, Shatabdi, East Bound trains & other Mail/Express trains, licensee''s base kitchens through IRCTC official and Quality Control Professionals (QCPs) so as to improve quality of catering services. Punitive actions have been taken against defaulting licensees by imposing heavy fines in case of major deficiencies and warnings in case of minor deficiencies.

- Food Safety & Hygiene Audits

Systematic Food Safety & Hygiene audit are being carried out through third party Professional agency on Trains, Base Kitchens & Food Plazas.

The comparison of Food Safety Audit rating in Trains, Base Kitchens & Food Plazas for the last 3 years i.e. 2007-08, 2008-09 & 2009-10 is shown in the Bar Chart given below:

There has been consistent improvement in the Food Safety Audit ratings over various catering units & regular efforts are made for further improvement of the ratings. The food audit reports submitted by the third party agency has short term, medium term & long term recommendations for further improvement in the food audit ratings.

- CRM - Awareness Campaigns

Traditionally the only source of customer feedback has been the suggestions and complaints book at the stations/trains. And quite often the complaint book was not made available to the passenger. To open several gates for people to communicate to us, several steps have been taken & now option of channels is available for complaint. The various channels of communication other than conventional complaint book are:-

a) Complaint Book on Trains/Pantry Cars

b) Complaints at Stations

c) Through the Internet on www.irctc.com

d) Through Telephone 24 x 7 at the control rooms.

e) Through SMS No. 9971111139

f) Through Toll Free Number 1800-111-139 which have been widely circulated on all trains.

g) Directly from Railway Board

h) Directly to IRCTC

The Complaints Management solution enables to redress the complaint for a product or service pertaining to catering, coming from multiple sources like phone, fax, email, or the web. All crucial details and parameters about the product as well as the incident are captured. Drop-down menus, logical validations, and auto-fill capabilities boost efficiency and ensure accuracy of information. Depending on the complaint parameter, the case is automatically routed for investigation, response, and reporting. Complaints are sent to relevant departments and personnel and escalation mechanism is triggered based on severity and priority.

Complaint Analysis: The complaints are broadly classified as Complaint pertaining to Quality, Quantity, Staff Behaviour, Poor Services, Over charging, Unauthorized Vending & Misc. etc. Based on the seriousness of the complaint, punitive action of imposition of fine, termination, warning & counseling are taken. Punitive action taken is updated on CRM and the same gets communicated through auto-generated mail to the complainant as well as to the licensee.

Regular inspections are conducted by QCPs & IRCTC Officials in the trains and also at the Base Kitchens so as to improve Food Safety & Quality standards thereby minimizing public complaints. Review meetings are also held with the licensees for improving Food Safety & Hygiene standards in the pantry cars and at the Base Kitchens so as to have improvement in the quality of catering services as well as minimization of complaints on food quality front.

i) Performance Evaluation of License

Performance Evaluation system & Annual Performance Reports (APR) of licensees/contractors has been strengthened and the same is done on the basis of various aspects such as Overall Performance, Hygienic Condition of Catering Unit, Attitude & Aptitude of Licensee, Number of Complaints, Deficiencies Noticed during inspections, Customer Satisfaction Survey ratings of third party agency, Food Audit evaluation by third party agency, Assessment of Quality of Food, Preparation & Presentation methods, provision of meals as per prescribed quantity etc.

ii) Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Leading market research agencies i.e. M/s IMRB International, M/s IMRS have been engaged to measure the degree of satisfaction of rail travelers on various aspects such as Food &Refreshment, Bed Roll &Linen, Staff Behavior & Compartment related aspects to identify the areas for improvement.

The comparison of customer satisfaction ratings for Rajdhani, Shatabdi& Mail/Express trains for last 3 years is shown in the table given below:

Train Category/ Year 2008-09 2009-10 No. of Percentage No. of Percentage Trains Trains

Rajdhani 25 74% 34 82%

Shatabdi 15 79% 26 84%

Mail/Express 105 54% 68 56%

- Menu Sticker Pasting-- In order to remove the menace of over-charging by the service provider in the Mail/Express trains, all India drives on pasting of menu stickers through Quality Control Professionals have been launched from time to time. Other relevant information like Toll Free Number for lodging their grievances/suggestions, standard rates of tea/coffee, Rail Neer etc. is also printed. During the year 2009-10, more than 35,000 stickers were pasted in coaches of mail express trains.

5. Catering Policy:

Ministry of Railways has issued the Catering Policy - 2010 on 21st July, 2010. The challenge to the catering business of the company due to it would be met by evolving strategies to streamline and augment the catering business in the realm of food courts, food plazas and fast units.

6. Awards / Recognition

In recognition of the excellent performance of the Corporation in various fields, the following awards have been conferred on IRCTC during the year:

- Rated ''Excellent'' for MOU Evaluation for the year 2008-09 by Department of Public Enterprises.

- CNBC Awaaz-Travel Awards -The Special Commendation for Redefining Indian Railways Award - 2009 for E-ticketing by Ms. Selja, Hon''able Minister of Tourism.

- PC Quest awarded the Excellence Award for Most Innovative Project in 2009 for 139-Rail Sampark.

- QCI DL Shah National Award on Economics of Quality - "QCI - D. L. Shah National Award for our initiatives on food safety and Economics of Quality" by Quality Council of India by Dr. Masaki Imai, Quality Guru of Japan.

- The Grand Jury of the mBillionth Award South Asia for the year 2010 - Certificate of Recognition SMS 139 Railway Enquiry.

- ICWAI National Quality Award for Excellence in Cost Management - 2009 : First Prize under public service sector medium category by Shri Salman Khurshid, Hon''ble Ministry of State for Corporate Affairs.

7. FUTURE PLANS: Some of the initiatives planned for tourism, catering activities and Internet Ticketing are as under:

Catering:

- Railway Catering -

- More Food Plazas/Fast Food Units/Food Courts will be set up on Indian Railways.

- Book Stalls will be upgraded, subject to orders of Hon''ble Supreme Court of India.

- Non-Railway Catering -

- Institutional catering business in concerning Educational Institutes/Corporate/Government/Semi- Government.

- Spatial catering presence like NHAI & other projects driven by private back end partners of IRCTC with suitable financing models.

- Food factory: Production facility with State of Art kitchen to supply food to railway & non-railway. Railneer:

- Strategic tie ups: IRCTC is working towards tie ups in the areas of Rail Neer.

- New Rail Neer Plants: For Southern Region, Rail Neer plant is being set up at Palur near Chennai. Tender has been awarded and physical work for setting up building is nearing completion. However, the installation of plant and machinery is held up due to court case pending with Hon''ble Supreme Court. The decision for the same is expected shortly. For Western region, architect and plant consultants have been appointed for Rail Neer plant at Ambernath near Mumbai.

Tourism:

- Thrust on Educational Tours on All India basis.

- Further development of rail tour package business

- Strategic tie-ups for promoting tourism

- Comprehensive travel services to corporate clients.

- Offering a full range of services as an online travel agent.

Internet Ticketing

- Modernization of IT infrastructure.

- Setting up of disaster recovery site.

8. HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING INITIATIVES:

During the year, 2147 employees of the Corporation were imparted training on various aspect of their work as compared to 1452 in the previous year. The Corporation organized training programmes for staff at Customer Care Centre, Delhi and reputed Regional and Government institutes.

The Corporation has organized the training programmes for all the staff categories viz., Officers, QCPs, Inspectors, Supervisors, Cooks, Bearers, etc in the skills up-gradation and personal hygiene. These training programmes have benefited large number of catering staff. In addition to this, specific trainings were imparted at best national and regional food institutes to upgrade skills of departmental cooks.

9. DIVIDEND

Keeping in view the financial results, the Board of Directors recommended interim dividend of Rs 4.00 Crore. The Board of Directors have now recommended a Total Dividend of Rs 12.61 Crore (Approximately, 20 % of the Net Profit) including interim dividend for the year 2009-10.

The total dividend for the year will be Rs 6.31 per share as against Rs4 .65 per share paid for the previous year. The total dividend pay out for the year would be Rs 12.61crore as against Rs 9.31 crore paid for the previous year.

10. CAPITAL STRUCTURE

As on 31st March 2010, paid-up share capital of the Corporation stood at Rs 20.00 Crore. The Government of India holds the entire paid up share capital of the Corporation. During the year, there was no change in the paid-up share capital.

11. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

Cordial industrial relations were maintained during the year.

12. PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVES /GOVERNMENTAL DIRECTIVES

A Presidential Directive on implementation of Second Pay Committee'' recommendations was received from the Government during the financial year 2009-2010. The same has been implemented.

13. VIGILANCE

13.1The Vigilance Department is presently headed by part-time Chief Vigilance Officer and has constantly endeavoured to emphasize on "preventive Vigilance" to improve upon systems and procedures and leaving minimum scope for discretion. It also ensured to enforce discipline in exercising power in a judicious way in matters relating to administrative and financial functions.

13.2 The Vigilance set up in IRCTC has been an effective managerial tool in enhancing the performance of the Corporation by way of advising functional Divisions to systematize/ document the policies/ procedures.

13.3 The vigilance Awareness Week 2009 was organized during 3-7 November, 2009. Various programmes/ lectures were arranged in all the offices of the IRCTC with a view to create awareness about preventive measures through system improvement and use of Information technology.

13.4 Performance of the Vigilance Department is reviewed regularly by the CVC and Managing Director/ IRCTC.

13.5 Bringing the practices in IRCTC up to the internationally acclaimed best practices for raising integrity levels in procurement of works and services etc., IRCTC is implementing the "Integrity Pact" program in line with the recommendations of Central Vigilance Commission. The adoption of Integrity Pact by IRCTC will go a long way toward, establishing healthy business practices.

14. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

The Corporation continued its thrust on the Official language implementation in-line with Govt. of India''s Policy. Several steps are taken to increase the use of Rajbhasha in the Corporation and the Corporation has proved its commitment to ensure the implementation of the Rajbhasha Policy.

The Corporation has made all efforts to increase the use of official language for its continued propagation, various activities like organizing workshops; to give training, meetings, essay competition, cultural activities, Publication of bilingual House Magazine PRERNA etc. For outstanding and noteworthy contribution in Hindi, number of incentives and reward schemes are in force.

15. MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS REPORT:

The Report on Management Discussion and Analysis is placed as per Annexure-I to this report.

16. PARTICULARS OF EMPLOYEES

As required under the provisions of Section 217(2A) of the Companies Act, 1956 read with the Companies (Particulars of Employees) Rules, 1975, none of the employees were drawing salaries and allowance beyond the limit stipulated therein.

17. PARTICULARS OF ENERGY CONSERVATION, TECHNOLOGY ABSORPTION, FOREIGN EXCHANGE EARNINGS AND OUTGO ETC:

Details as per the provisions of Section 217(1)(e) of the Companies Act, 1956 read with the Companies (Disclosure of Particulars in the Report of Board of Directors) Rules 1988 regarding Conservation of Energy, Technology Absorption, Foreign Exchange Earnings and Outgo is given as per Annexure-II.

18. DIRECTORS'' RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT

Pursuant to the requirement under Section 217(2AA) of the Companies Act, 1956, with respect to Director''s Responsibilities Statement; it is hereby confirmed:

(i) That in the preparation of annual accounts for the financial year ended 31st March 2010; the applicable accounting standards have been followed.

(ii) That the directors have selected such accounting policies and applied them consistently and made judgments and estimates that were reasonable and prudent so as to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Corporation at the end of the financial year and profit and loss of the Corporation for the period under review.

(iii) That the directors have taken proper and sufficient care for the maintenance of adequate accounting records in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956, for safeguarding the assets of the Corporation and for preventing and detecting fraud and other irregularities.

(iv) That the directors have prepared the annual accounts for the financial year ended 31st March 2010, on a ''going concern'' basis.

19. COMMENTS OF COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL

The Comments on the accounts for the year ended 31st March, 2010 by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India under Section 619(4) of the Companies Act, 1956 shall form part of this report.

20. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND MOU SIGNING

A report on Corporate Governance, forming part of this report, is given in Annexure-III. The certificate on Corporate Governance obtained from the practicing Company Secretary is given in the Annexure-IV to this report.

The Corporation has also signed an MOU with the Government of India, Ministry of Railways thereby laying inter alia the physical and financial targets for the year 2009-10.

21. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

IRCTC''s Corporate Social Responsibility Policy is "To remain a responsible corporate entity mindful of its social responsibilities to all stakeholders including railway passengers, customers, consumers, shareholders, employees, local community and society at large".

IRCTC has undertaken the following measures towards fulfilling it commitment:

- Using environment friendly products for packaging of food items and serving of beverages.

- Safe discharge of waste water in Solar Pits to recharge the water table in the earth and correcting ecological balances.

- Planting of trees

- Preventing spillage of garbage and ensuring safe disposal of garbage in Railway premises.

- Introduced Induction Cooking System to minimize fire hazards in Railway premises.

- Food and Safety audits for minimizing health hazard.

- Financial support to educational and other institutions.

- Installation of environment friendly CDTS toilets in the Buddhist Circuit Special Train as well as the Maharajas'' Express.

During the year, 1,00,000 bottles of Railneer were distributed amongst the cyclone affected people in West Bengal.

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT:

IRCTC has undertaken the following measures for ensuring sustainable business development:

- Utilization of solar energy at Base Kitchens and Refreshment Rooms.

- Collection and disposal of used Rail Neer Bottles to prevent its misuse.

22. AUDITORS

M/s S.P. Marwaha & Co., Chartered Accountants, New Delhi were appointed as Corporation''s Statutory Auditors for the year 2009-2010 by Comptroller and Auditor General of India, New Delhi.

23. BOARD OF DIRECTORS

At present, the Board of the Corporation consists of a part-time Chairman, Managing Director, three Functional Directors, two Government Nominee Official Directors and Four part time non-official Directors.

The Board met four (4) times during the year for transacting business and following Directors held office up to the date of the Report: -

Shri Vivek Sahai, Chairman,

Shri Rakesh Kumar Tandon, Managing Director,

Shri Nalin Shinghal, Director (Tourism & Marketing),

Shri Vinod Asthana, Director (Catering Services),

Shri Vishwa Ranjan Gupta, Director(Finance)

Shri Naresh Salecha, Government Director

Smt. Mani Anand, Government Director

Shri Jagdeep S. Chhokar, Independent Director

Shri Alok Shivapuri, Independent Director

Shri R.N. Bhardwaj, Independent Director

Shri R.K. Agrawal, Independent Director

Shri Vivek Sahai, Member Traffic, Railway Board joined the Board of the Corporation as Chairman on 14.01.2010 in place of Shri Shriprakash, who ceased to be Director of the Corporation on attaining superannuation from the services of Ministry of Railways. The Board wishes to place on record its appreciation and gratitude for the invaluable contribution and support to the Company made by Shri Shriprakash during his association as Chairman of IRCTC.

Shri Sunil Mathur, Executive Director(T&C), Railway Board, Ministry of Railways joined the Board of the Corporation as Government Director on 14.01.2010 in place of Shri Ashok Kumar, who ceased to be Director of the Corporation consequent to his transfer from the post of ED(T&C), Railway Board, Ministry of Railways. Smt. Mani Anand, Executive Director(T&C), Railway Board, Ministry of Railways joined the Board of the Corporation as Government Director on 14.05.2010 in place of Shri Sunil Mathur, who ceased to be Director of the Corporation consequent to his transfer from the post of ED(T&C), Railway Board, Ministry of Railways. The Board wishes to place on record its appreciation for the valuable guidance and services rendered by Shri Ashok Kumar and Shri Sunil Mathur during their association as Government Directors of IRCTC.

24. AUDIT COMMITTEE

An Audit Committee of the Board of Directors was earlier constituted by the Corporation. The Audit Committee of Board of Directors met Three (3) times during the year for transacting business and following Audit Committee Members held office up to the date of the Report: -

Shri R. N. Bhardwaj, Independent Director

Shri Jagdeep S. Chhokar, Independent Director

Shri Alok Shivapuri, Independent Director

Shri R.K. Agrawal, Independent Director

Shri Vinod Asthana, Director(Catering Services)

Shri R.N. Bhardwaj has been elected as Chairman of the Audit Committee.

25. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & APPRECIATION

The Board of Directors place on record their grateful thanks for the guidance and cooperation extended all through by the Ministry of Railways without whose active support the achievements by the Corporation during the year under review would not have been possible.

The Board of Directors is also extremely grateful to its valued customers and licensees.

The Board also acknowledges with thanks the constructive suggestions received from C&AG of India, Statutory Auditors and Internal Auditors.

Last but not the least, the Board wishes to place on record its appreciation for the untiring efforts and contributions made by the employee at all levels, to ensure that the Company continues to grow and excel.

For and on behalf of the Board of Directors

Sd/-

Place: New Delhi (VIVEK SAHAI)

Dated: 7th September, 2010 Chairman

---

Mar 31, 2008

The Directors take pleasure in presenting the Ninth Annual Report along with Audited Accounts of the Corporation for the year ended on 31 st March 2008.

1. FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

During the year under review, the Corporation earned a total Income of Rs.527.66 Crore as against Rs. 433.54 Crore earned during the previous year. Income from Licensee catering services increased from Rs.219.18 Crore during the previous year to Rs.289.20 Crore. The Corporation registered a marginal increase in the turnover of departmental catering business from Rs. 156.45 Crore during the previous year to Rs.159.40 Crore during the year, mainly due to Bedroll and Cleaning business of Rs.15.97 crore, which has now been transferred back to Railways. Income from Tourism Activities decreased from Rs.11.36 Crore during the previous year to Rs.9.72 Crore during the year due to change in the Railway Board Policy with regard to Charter Trains and Charter Coaches. Income from Internet Ticketing registered a quantum improvement from Rs. 23.44 crore during the previous year to Rs.39.18 Crore during the year.

During the year, sales (exclusive of Excise Duty) from the Railneer plants increased from Rs. 8.03 Crore during the previous year to Rs.11.00 Crore, mainly due to increased production of Railneer Plant at Danapur. Interest Income has substantially increased from Rs.5.25 Crore during the previous year to Rs. 10.60 Crore during the year, due to improvement in interest rates. Other Income marginally decreased from Rs.9.84 Crore during the previous year to Rs.8.55 Crore during the year, mainly on account of decline in Income from vending due to licensing out of AVMs etc.

A net profit of Rs.20.75 Crore was registered during the year as against Rs. 20.23 Crore during the previous year. The Net profit during the year could not be increased due to imposition of Haulage cost by the Ministry of Railways, Railway Board vide letter bearing no.2005/TG-III/675/14, dated 8/15th May, 2008 for the year 2007-08 and making of provision for arrears as per 6th Pay Commission Report, DA merger for PSU employees and 2nd Pay Revision Committee Report of PSUs .An amount of Rs.30.00 Crore has been provided as Haulage Charges and Rs.24.15 crore has been provided towards arrears of Pay Revision. As at 31st March 2008, the Reserves and Surplus of the Corporation stood at Rs.58.85 Crore. The Net Worth went up from Rs. 62.96 Crore during the previous year to Rs.78.85 Crore during the year under review.

Profit earned by the Corporation has been appropriated in the following manner:

(Rs. in Crore)

Particulars/Year ending 31st March, 2008 31st March, 2007

Profit Before Tax 33.26 30.00

Provision For Tax 11.00 10.60

Provision for fringe benefit tax 00.50 00.16

Income Tax paid for Previous Year 0 0

Prior Period Expenses/ Income (Net)00.29 (00.48)

Deferred Tax 00.72 (00.51)

Profit after Tax 20.75 20.23

Profit brought forward 9.04 5.40

Tax adjustment for the prior years

Deferred Tax for Previous year Nil Nil

Transfer to Reserves 16.00 12.00

Dividend (Including Dividend Tax) 4.86 4.59

Profit carried forward to Balance Sheet 8.93 9.04

2. CONTRIBUTION TO REVENUES OF RAILWAYS:

During the year the Corporation contributed a sum of Rs.62.76 crore to the revenues of Indian Railways as against a sum of Rs. 54.24 Crore during the previous year. Contribution to the Revenues of Railways comprises

Haulage Charges, Concession fee, License fee, User Charges and Dividend for the year 2007-08 etc. During the year, the sharing of revenues with the various Zonal Railways has been made in terms of Memorandum of Understanding dated 17th January, 2007. In addition to the above, tickets net of refunds worth Rs.1411.70 Crore were booked during the year as against Rs.545.55 Crore during the previous year. The ticket booked comprised of booking of tickets through internet and booking of tickets for various tour packages operated by IRCTC as well as train/coach charters.

3. BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

Catering Activities on Indian Railways through Licensees:

During the year under review, the Corporation awarded 11 contracts for on Board Catering Services on Indian Railways Trains. During the year, the Corporation was managing these services on 14 Rajdhani, 13 Shatabdi, 16 Janshatabdi and 196 Mail Express Trains (including train awarded on temporary basis) as on the 31st March 2008.

In addition to the above, 42 contracts for Train Side Vending were operational.

During the Year under review, the Corporation awarded 816 contracts for AVM Kiosks for sale of hot and cold beverages at various Railway Stations.

Food Plazas:

During the year, 14 new food plazas became operational taking the total operational food plazas to 53 and licenses for 10 food plazas at various Railway Stations were awarded by the Corporation.

Outdoor Catering (non-railway catering) by IRCTC: There has been various demands from Railway organizations and other high profile Central Government organizations such as Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Finance etc., for provision of special catering arrangements through the operation of Special cafeterias, canteens and hospitality functions to be managed by IRCTC for a particular occasion or on short term/long term basis. Initiative has been taken by IRCTC in this regard and canteen at MEA is being managed by IRCTC. IRCTC has received requests from various other premier institutions.

Moreover, IRCTC has provided professional consultancy to AIIMS for development of their existing cafeteria with state of art modern kitchen equipments and gadgets. Further, IRCTC has provided professional training to production and service staff of UPSC to enable them to serve better. IRCTC is also developing food courts at stations. IRCTC is in the process of developing multi cuisine food court with contemporary interior designs & technology such as using smart cards for transaction. These food courts will be operated in association with all major national & international brands. Two such sites are being developed at Mumbai Central & Charbagh-Lucknow

Rail Based Tourism:

During the year, the Corporation undertook the following business:

- Rail Tour Packages were directly operated by IRCTC from January 2007. For period April’07 to March ‘08, 7160 berths have been sold as against 1534 berths during the previous year

- 9 Full Train Charters were undertaken by the Corporation as against 124 full train Charters during the previous year.

- 64 Special Charter Coaches on various sectors were run as against 316 special train coaches during the previous year.

- 36 Village on Wheels - Bharat Darshan Trains were operated during the year as against 22 trains operated during the previous year.

- 46 Charters were operated during on hill railways as against 40 Charters operated during the previous year.

Decline in the train/coach charter business occurred because of revised instructions issued by Ministry of Railways on chartering of trains and coaches by the IRCTC.

Marketing Plan has been drawn to promote Rail Tour Packages across India. This includes display of danglers at IRCTC stalls at various stations, advertisements on FM Radio, scrollers on Cable TV, Display of posters at

Metro stations in New Delhi, Kolkata, News paper Advertisements direct marketing to corporate. Tour packages to Religious destinations are proposed to be promoted on religious TV channels such as Aastha etc

Mahaparinirvan Express, Buddhist Circuit Special Train

In order to tap the Buddhist travel market, IRCTC launched this Special Train for the Buddhist Circuit. One trial trip was operated in April-May 2007 and the inaugural trip was flagged off by the Hon’ble Minister of Railways & the Hon’ble Minister of Tourism on the 06th Oct. 2007. This 7 nights / 8 days all inclusive tour package covers important places of Buddhist interest such as Bodhgaya, Rajgir, Nalanda, Sarnath, Kushinagar, Lumbini, Sravasti and Agra.

IRCTC has undertaken aggressive all round marketing efforts for the promotion of the train in various key markets such as Korea, Thailand, Singapore etc.

Familiarization trips for key Media and Travel agents from Thailand, Singapore, Korea, Japan, India etc. were organized. Extensive positive media coverage has been received by Mahaparinirvan Express in leading national & international publications such as Straits Times Singapore, Chosun Ilbo & Chosun Bua Korea, The Nation, Bangkok Post & Look East-Thailand, Jetwings, Outlook Travelers, the Times of India etc. This was also promoted in collaboration with Mnistry of Tourism at various domestic & international travel shows in Delhi, Tokyo, Mumbai, Bangkok. Road shows were held in Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam along with Sales visits to key tour operators in these countries.

Promotional efforts saw this tourist train getting established in various key markets. People from various countries such as Thailand, Korea, India, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Costa-Rica, Myanmar & Netherlands have traveled in the train so far. Excellent feedback has been received from the passengers who have travelled on this train.

Tourism Portal

IRCTC’s tourism portal www.railtourismindia.com, which was launched a year ago has been awarded the National Tourism Award for 2007-08. This portal is fast growing into a one stop travel shop which will meet all the travel & tourism needs of a customer.

Budget Hotels:

The Budget Hotel projects by IRCTC on Railway stations has been partially cleared by Railway Board. The process of finalization of tenders, signing of agreements etc has been started again.

IRCTC has successfully renovated Rail Yatri Niwas at New Delhi, which is now operational under Ginger brand of Taj Hotels. Rail Yatri Niwas at Howrah and BNR Hotels at Ranchi & Puri have also been taken up for redevelopment.

IRCTC has acquired land from the Orissa Government for setting up a budget hotel at Bhubaneshwar and agreement for the same is to be signed shortly. Possibility of acquiring Govt. Land for the purpose of Budget Hotels in other places is being explored and various Government agencies have been approached for the same.

Internet Ticketing System:

During the year 2007-08, the number of tickets booked (both E and I tickets) through IRCTC website www.irctc.co.in has gone upto 1,89,09,502 tickets as against 68,23,481 tickets booked during the previous year. The value of tickets booked has gone upto Rs.1705. 03 crore during the year as against Rs. 678.64 crore during the previous year. Touched a daily high of over 1-lac tickets and crossed 2 million ticket sales per month during several months this year. Even average ticket sold through IRCTC’s website in a day is more than 78,000 during March 08.

Under the scheme of frequent travellers (SOFT), a total number of approximately 52,491 customers were registered by IRCTC and SBI as on 31st March 2008.

As on 31st March, 2008 around 22,000 agents are enrolled for the E-ticketing facility and on an average 18,048 tickets per day were booked by such agents during March 2008.

In recognition of the excellent performance of this website, a number of awards have been conferred on it in the past year :-

Awarded the “National Award for E-Governance, 2007-08” jointly by Department of IT, Govt. of India and Govt. of Haryana.

Awarded the “Best e-Governed Project G2C - Urban & Rural” by Computer Society of India in November, 2007.

Awarded the “Genius of the Web Award 2007” for Best E-Gov PSU Site by CNBC.

Integrated Train Enquiry System (139-Rail Sampark Call Centre):

IRCTC had taken up the project for launch of Integrated Train Enquiry System- Rail Sampark 139 with the objective of providing State of the Art enquiry services to Railway Passengers all over the country. This was a pioneering PPP project where the call centre was taken on a revenue model rather than on a cost model.

Services in North Zone were launched on 17th July 2007 within 10 months of the work being handed over to IRCTC. All India rollout has been completed in the financial year 2007-08 with services being made available from any phone anywhere in the country.

This project has brought about a sea change in the quality of enquiry services available to Rail Passengers across the country. Work is on for launch of various value added & premium services also.

Packaged Drinking Water (Railneer):

Two Plants of Railneer Packaged Drinking water are operating at Nangloi (Delhi) and Danapur (Bihar). During the year, production of Railneer Packaged Drinking Water increased from 3,51,12,636 bottles during the previous year to 4,06,44,576 bottles, indicating an increase of approximately 16 %. The Railneer Plant at Nangloi is operating at 89 % and Railneer Plant Danapur is operating at 83 % of installed capacity, based on three shift working.

The distribution of the Railneer at various Railway Stations in New Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa, and Assam etc. and various trains originating from the New Delhi and Kolkata continued during the year, in addition to supplies to Parliament House, Railway Board and Ministry of External Affairs etc.

The results of the tests carried out by accredited laboratories on Railneer Packaged Drinking Water, indicate that the quality of Railneer, conforms to Europeon Economic Community (EEC) norms for pesticides residue, a unique distinction indeed.

4. QUALITY CONTROL AND COMPLAINT REDRESSAL SYSTEM

- To maintain quality of services onboard trains, IRCTC has set up control rooms at New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Secunderabad. These Zonal offices are equipped with phone, fax & PC with broadband connectivity, and are operational around the clock, seven days a week. Central Control office at New Delhi regularly coordinates with all the five zonal offices for effective monitoring of the complaints. National Toll free number1800-111139 for catering related complaints is being made operational for round the clock working.

- 58 Quality Control Professionals having Diploma/Degree holders in hospitality with 2 or more years of field experience were recruited in May, 2007 & posted in zonal & regional offices. Specific trains were allotted to them for achieving overall improvements in on board services.

- M/s TUV SUD South Asia, the multinational food audit & certification agency has been enlisted for third party audit on food hygiene & safety audit. It has conducted food audit on a total of 282 units including 255 trains, 11 food plazas & 16 base kitchens. In the reports short term, medium term & long term recommendations with implementation period of 1 week, 3-4 weeks and 8 weeks respectively have been made for achieving improvement in food hygiene & safety.

- The leading market research firm M/S IMRB has been conducting comprehensive survey to measure the degree of satisfaction of travelers with various facets of the on board services provided to them.

In the first & second round of survey, they have completed 142 & 115 trains respectively, reports of the customer satisfaction survey have been received and it has been found that 145 trains have overall ratings above 60% and for balance 112 trains having rating below 60%, suitable steps have been taken for bringing improvement in overall rating.

- M/s RITES, a public sector undertaking has been engaged for Certification for Food Safety Management System (FSMS) as per ISO 22000:2005 in Quality Management System (QMS) of Base Kitchens, Rajdhani Trains and stalls of IRCTC. The final audit by certification agency has already been conducted in the Base Kitchens at New Delhi, Mumbai Central & Howrah in the last week of March, 2008. All the three Base Kitchens found to be in accordance with the ISO 22000:2005 specifications including infrastructure & procedures. They have been duly recommended by Certifying Agency for issue of ISO certificate.

Licenssees were also advised from time to time on ISO certification of their catering units, 26 Catering Units have already been covered under ISO certification. In all total 41 catering units covering departmental as well as licensee owned are covered under ISO 9001:2000 or ISO 22000 : 2005.

5. FUTURE PLANS:

- Launching of a Luxury Tourist Train with pan India itineraries.

- Strategic tie-ups for promoting tourism & catering business

- Tie up for providing hotel content on the tourism portal

- Further development of rail tour package business

- For static catering units, IRCTC has planned focused inputs for manpower deployment, procurement processes and for standardization of services.

- Expansion of capacity of existing Railneer Plants

- Setting up new Railneer Plants near Mumbai and Chennai to meet the demands of Rail users of Western and Southern parts of the country,

- IRCTC has planned to replace existing old catering stalls with modular compact stalls of uniform design to ease congestion on Railway platforms.

- Modernization of existing base kitchens,

- Setting up of mini base kitchens.

- Modernization of Pantry cars.

6. HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING INITIATIVES:

During the year, the Corporation incurred an expenditure of Rs.18.11 Lac on training of staff as against Rs.14.63 Lac incurred during the previous year. The Corporation organized training programmes for staff with reputed food craft training Regional and Government institutes.

The Corporation has organized the training programmes for all the staff categories viz., Officers, QCPs, Inspectors, Supervisors, Cooks, Bearers, etc in the skills up-gradation and personal hygiene. These training programmes have benefited large number of catering staff. In addition to this, specific trainings were imparted at best national and regional food institutes to upgrade skills of departmental cooks.

7. DIVIDEND

Keeping in view the financial results, the Board of Directors recommended interim dividend of Rs.2.00 Crore. The Board of Director have now recommended a Total Dividend of Rs.4.15 Crore including interim dividend (Approximately, 20 % of the Net Profit) for the year 2007-08. The interim dividend of Rs.2.00 Crore has been adjusted against the Final Dividend.

8. CAPITAL STRUCTURE

As on 31st March 2008, paid-up share capital of the Corporation stood at Rs.20.00 Crore. The Government of India holds the entire paid up share capital of the Corporation. During the year, there was no change in the paid-up share capital.

9. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

Cordial industrial relations were maintained during the year.

10. PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVES / GOVERNMENTAL DIRECTIVES

No Presidential Directive was received from the Government during the financial year 2007-2008.

11. VIGILANCE

The Corporation has a full fledged Vigilance department headed by a Joint Secretary rank CVO, Smt. Sundari Subramanium Pujari

12. RAJBHASHA

The Corporation has taken necessary steps for ensuring compliance of the provisions of Section 3(3) of the Official Language Act. A Rajbhasha Committee is set up by the Corporation to review the progress made in the implementation of the Hindi in day-to-day work.

The Corporation is following the guidelines of the Official Languages Act. The Annual Report is concurrently published in Hindi. The Company would progressively increase the use of Hindi of accordance with official language policy of the Government. The Officers and staff possess working knowledge of Hindi in day to day work.

During the year, an inspection of the Corporation was carried out on 30th January 2008 by sub-committee of the Parliament Committee on official Languages.

13. PARTICULARS OF ENERGY CONSERVATION, TECHNOLOGY ABSORPTION, FOREIGN EXCHANGE EARNINGS AND OUTGO ETC:

Details as per the provisions of Section 217(1)(e) of the Companies Act, 1956 read with the Companies (Disclosure of Particulars in the Report of Board of Directors) Rules 1988 regarding Conservation of Energy, Technology Absorption, Foreign Exchange Earnings and Outgo is placed as per Annexure-I.

14. PARTICULARS OF EMPLOYEES

As required under the provisions of Section 217(2A) of the Companies Act, 1956 read with the Companies (Particulars of Employees) Rules, 1975, none of the employees were drawing salaries and allowance beyond the limit stipulated therein.

15. DIRECTORS’ RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT

Pursuant to the requirement under Section 217(2AA) of the Companies Act, 1956, with respect to Director’s Responsibilities Statement; it is hereby confirmed:

(i) That in the preparation of annual accounts for the financial year ended 31st March 2008; the applicable accounting standards have been followed.

(ii) That the directors have selected such accounting policies and applied them consistently and made judgments and estimates that were reasonable and prudent so as to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Corporation at the end of the financial year and profit and loss of the Corporation for the period under review.

(iii) That the directors have taken proper and sufficient care for the maintenance of adequate accounting records in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956, for safeguarding the assets of the Corporation and for preventing and detecting fraud and other irregularities.

(iv) That the directors have prepared the annual accounts for the financial year ended 31st March 2008, on a ‘going concern’ basis.

16. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND MOU SIGNING

The Corporation is seized of the concept of Corporate Governance and principles underlying the same. As a part of the good corporate governance practices, the Corporation has been taking steps to implement such concepts. It has already constituted/re-constituted Audit Committee of the Board of Directors.

The Corporation has also signed a MOU with the Government of India, Ministry of Railways thereby laying inter alia the physical and financial targets for the year 2007-08.

17. AUDITORS

M/s S.P Marwaha & Co., Chartered Accountants, New Delhi were appointed as Corporation’s Statutory Auditors for the year 2007-2008 by Comptroller and Auditor General of India, New Delhi.

18. COMMENTS OF C&AG

The Comments of the C&AG on the accounts of the Company for the year ended 31 st March, 2008 shall form part of this report.

19. BOARD OF DIRECTORS

At present, the Board of the Corporation consists of a part-time Chairman, Managing Director, three Functional Directors. two Government Nominee Official Directors and Four part time non-official Directors.

The Board met four (4) times during the year for transacting business and following Directors held office up to the date of the Report: -

Shri Vinoo Narain Mathur, Chairman,

Shri Nalin Shinghal, Officiating MD and Director (Tourism & Marketing),

Shri Vinod Asthana, Director (Catering Services)

Shri Naresh Salecha,

Shri Ashok Kumar,

Shri S.B. Mathur,

Shri Arvind Sharma,

Shri Jagdeep S. Chhokar,

Shri Alok Shivapuri

Dr. P.K. Goel, Managing Director left the services of the Corporation on 13th January, 2008, consequent upon his appointment as Director, IRITM, Lucknow

Shri V.K. Jain, Director (Finance) left the services of the Corporation on 3rd December, 2007.

The Board placed on record its appreciation of the services rendered and guidance provided by the outgoing Managing Director and Director (Finance). .

20. AUDIT COMMITTEE

An Audit Committee of the Board of Directors was earlier constituted by the Corporation. The Audit Committee of Board of Directors met two (2) times during the year for transacting business and following Audit Committee Members held office up to the date of the Report: -

Shri S.B. Mathur,

Shri Arvind Sharma,

Shri Vinod Asthana, Director(Catering Services)

Shri Jagdeep S. Chhokar,

Shri Alok Shivapuri Shri S.B. Mathur has been elected as Chairman of the Audit Committee.

21. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & APPRECIATION

The Board of Directors thanks the Ministry of Railways for their guidance and continued support throughout the year. The Board of Directors is also extremely grateful to its valued customers and licensees. The Board of Directors further place on record their appreciation of the commitment, involvement and dedication exhibited by the staff in the overall development and growth of the Corporation.

For and on behalf of the Board of Directors

Place: New Delhi (Vinoo Narain Mathur)

Dated: 14th August, 2008 Chairman