IRCTC's net profit rises almost five-fold on higher ticketing revenue

Bookings rose from about 700,000 tickets a day pre-pandemic, to 1.3 mn currently. Even if Rail Ministry takes away half the revenue, IRCTC's bottom line won't change much, says official

lndian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) reported a near five-fold increase in net profit to Rs 154.83 crores in the second quarter of financial year 2021-22. This was on the back of higher profit under ticketing revenue that touched Rs 220.34 crore in the period under review from Rs 61.34 crore in the same period a year ago.

IRCTC's total comprehensive income during the quarter ending September 2020 was Rs 34.14 crore.

A senior official said IRCTC was booking around 700,000 tickets a day during the pre-pandemic period. "This has now risen to around 1.3 million a day, so even if the Railway Ministry takes away half the revenue, IRCTC’s bottom line will not change much,” a senior official said. The higher number of bookings was because the railways has disallowed unreserved ticket travel. Further, since the on-counter sale of tickets is also restricted, sales through IRCTC has also risen.