Govt reverses decision on IRCTC convenience fee

Shares of IRCTC, which plunged as much as 30 per earlier, pared some losses and were last down 5.2 per cent.

The railways ministry on Friday withdrew its decision to ask the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), its catering and tourism arm, to share half of all the convenience fee revenue it earns. "Ministry of Railways has decided to withdraw the decision on IRCTC convenience fee," the department of investment and public asset management (DIPAM) secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted.

Sharing started in 2014 in the ratio of 80:20 between IRCTC and the Indian Railways. (Twitter/IRCTCofficial)

Shares of IRCTC, which plunged as much as 30 per earlier, pared some losses and were last down 5.2 per cent.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index edged up 0.14 per cent to 17,881 by 10:46am and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex inched higher 0.17 per cent to 60,089.27, after a more than 1 per cent drop in early trade on Friday. Both indexes were down over 1 per cent so far this week.

Sharing started in 2014 in the ratio of 80:20 between IRCTC and the Indian Railways. The ratio was changed to 50:50 in 2015 but the charge remained withdrawn for three years from November 2016, reports news agency PTI.

IRCTC on Thursday said that the ministry of railways has asked it to share 50 per cent of its revenue earned as a convenience fee from bookings on its website with the national transporter, an arrangement that had been discontinued since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The convenience fees charged from customers generated a sizeable revenue for IRCTC. The fee is not part of the rail fare and is for the service of online ticket booking offered by the IRCTC.

IRCTC is the only firm authorised to manage food services on trains and has a monopoly in the online ticketing and catering services for the Indian Railways.