IRCTC soon to cross a milestone as order numbers are bound to go up: Rajni Hasija

Mumbai: Today on World Tourism Day, ET chatted with IRCTC, CMD (LA) Ms. Rajni Hasija who provided her outlook on E-catering business, festive season, booking trends and overall revival post-covid.

On scaling up of the E-catering business, Ms Rajni stated that the E-catering margin is at tune of 15% and some marginal amount is shared with the railways too. She added that the E-catering services are doing well and servicing at market driven rates through increased number of B2C partners. “IRCTC ties up with the market players and brings them online so that the customers can book online meals of their choice and food is delivered at the berth. So, it is a win-win situation for both the market players and customers” she said.

Earlier during pre-covid through e -catering they were servicing 21,000 meals per day, however currently they are averaging 40,000 meals per day peaking at 50,000 meals in some cases, she added. They have also started offering festival special food such as Navratri special too. IRCTC is expecting to cross a milestone as order numbers are bound to increase with the high number of bookings.

Ms Rajni Hasija is also anticipating demand ahead of the festive season leading to growth in ticket booking. Booking is at a run rate of 11.5 lakh per day currently. Tatkal bookings have also gone up owing to the festive season, which is a normal trend.

IRCTC is endeavouring to tap into every niche market and satisfy customer demand. Hence, they have packages for every kind of client. For eg. domestic package, outbound tour, flight package etc.

On revival in the luxury train business, she said “Luxury train are on track and soon roadshows will begin. In-bound and outbound tourism have opened up. October to December period is going to be a bonanza for everyone in the tourism industry.”