Closure of railway agent service to affect employment, IRCTC revenue: IAMAI

The proposal to close railway agents for ticket booking will affect employment generated by over 3 lakh agents network and also the revenue of IRCTC, according to Internet and mobile association IAMAI.

The Railways Ministry is considering barring private vendors and agents from booking train tickets for passengers after noting they are no longer needed when tickets can be booked by anyone on a mobile.

"We would like to highlight that there are more than 100 service providers offering these services through 3,00,000 agent networks. The closure of their services will not only impact the investments done and employment generated by these agents but will also affect the revenue of IRCTC, as there are many people in India who need assistance for booking the tickets," IAMAI President Subho Ray said in a letter to Goyal.

He said the service providers provide assistance in booking the tickets to many who need assistance and hence they don't have to travel to IRCTC counters to book the tickets.

IAMAI urged the minister to postpone the discussion on abolition of the service provider system of IRCTC considering the current sitiuation around coronavirus which requires social distancing.