IRCTC Latest News Today: Rail passengers, who are regular travellers on trains, you attention please! The Indian Railways that sells more than 4 lakh tickets every year, plans to monetise its digital data asset for the purpose of revenue generation. In this regard, the Railways has floated a tender to hire a consultant to monetise its passenger and freight customer data with the aim to generate revenue up to Rs 1,000 crore. However, sources close to the development told PTI that it may be withdrawn amid concerns over privacy issues.
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After many on social media, including advocacy groups, expressed concerns over violation of data privacy issues, the government sources clarified that the consultant would advise the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on steps to improve its existing business and plan strategies to monetise future opportunities.
As per the tender document, the data to be studied will include information captured by the transporter’s various public facing applications such as “name, age, mobile number, gender, address, e-mail ID, class of journey, payment mode, login or password” and other details.
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It must be noted that the IRCTC has more than 10 crore users, of which 7.5 crore are active users. The document also stated that the consultant, once finalised, will be provided the details of applications and the data collected thereon for conducting the study for ‘Monetization of Digital Data of Indian Railways’.
As per latest updates, the consultant will study the data of passenger, freight and parcel businesses of the Indian Railways such as PRS, NGeT, NTES, UTS, Rail Madad, FOIS, TMS, e-CRM, and PMS, as well as vendor-related data from applications like IREPS, VMS and IPAS.
The Railways said the objective of the exercise is for the IRCTC to leverage its data assets and market position to drive strong growth in revenues. This can be achieved by improving customer experience, expanding the portfolio of products being offered to the customers and/or developing new business lines and partnerships, the document stated.
“IRCTC envisages a revenue generation potential of Rs 1,000 Cr through Monetization of its Digital Assets. IRCTC wishes to engage a consulting firm to help in identification, design, and development and roll-out of data monetization opportunities,” it said.
