How IRCTC plans to capitalise on the strong growth in railways

The government has earmarked nearly ₹2.55 lakh crore as capital expenditure for the Indian Railways for the next financial year, higher than the ₹2.4 lakh crore allocated for FY2024.

In Budget 2024, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also announced that 40,000 bogies would be converted to Vande Bharat standard to improve safety and convenience for passengers.

In an interaction with CNBC-TV18's Shereen Bhan at the World Economic Forum 2024 in Davos in February, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had highlighted the progress in the expansion and modernisation of the railways.

"Last year we added 5,200 km of new tracks. That’s like adding the entire Swiss network in one year. We are now aiming at a pace of 15 km of tracks a day," he said.

Jain also shared insights on the different segments that IRCTC operates in. Apart from tourism, catering, and ticketing services, IRCTC also manufactures bottled water under the brand name Rail Neer,

Jain said the company will add a new Rail Neer plant with 75,000 bottles per day capacity by July end. It already has a plant at Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh with a similar capacity.

In the third quarter of the current financial year (Q3FY24), the Rail Neer vertical had an EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) loss of a little over ₹3 crore versus a profit of around ₹9 crore in the same quarter last year. 

The 75-100 Vande Bharat trains ,Jain noted, have already aided ticketing growth, he noted, adding that the new trains announced recently will further boost growth.

In terms of Bharat Gaurav trains, IRCTC has already entered a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Uttarakhand government and is in discussion with other state governments also, he said.

“We are already 10+1 Bharat Gaurav trains and there are many more in the pipeline because of our MoU with the state government,” he said.