Updated for web and print:
Sitting on a huge amount of data on railway passengers, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) plans to leverage the data assets to increase revenue as well as improve customer experience.
To this end, the railway PSU has floated a tender for appointing a consultant for digital monetisation, which it expects will help generate ₹1,000 crore in revenue.
“IRCTC is a reservoir of huge amount of digital data which opens several opportunities for IRCTC for monetisation,” it said in a recently issued tender.
Driving growth
IRCTC wishes to leverage its data assets and market position to drive strong growth in revenue, it further said, adding that this can be achieved by improving customer experience, expanding the portfolio of products being offered to the customers and by developing new business-lines and partnerships.
“IRCTC envisages a revenue generation potential of ₹1,000 crore through Monetisation of its Digital Assets,” it further said, adding that it wishes to engage a consulting firm to help in identification, design, and development and roll- out of data monetisation opportunities.
The consultant would be expected to identify opportunities and use cases that IRCTC can pursue for increasing its revenues. This could include completely new use cases or improvement in existing IRCTC practices. The opportunities can be pursued by IRCTC on its own, or in partnership with other players.
Successful bidder
The successful bidder will keep in mind the IRCTC envisaged revenue potential for three years and also advise the PSU on how to monetise data available and implement strategies while staying within the existing laws and Supreme Court Judgements.
“The implementation strategies of Bidder shall comply with various Acts or laws including IT Act 2000 and its amendments, User data privacy laws including GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and current ‘Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 of India, and accordingly propose the business models for monetization of Digital Assets,” IRCTC has said.
The project will have an initial contract of 18-months and would be on a build-operate-transfer basis.
IRCTC has extended the deadline for submitting bids from August 29 to September 8.
For the quarter ended June 31, 2022, IRCTC reported a 196 per cent year on year increase in net profit to ₹246 crore with a 251 per cent jump in revenue from operations for the quarter to ₹853 crore.
Stock exchange filing:
In a clarification to stock exchanges, IRCTC said no negotiations have taken place so far and it is in the nascent stage of floating the tender and calling bids from the eligible Consultant aspirant.
“As a commercial entity, the Company explores the business opportunities for new areas. As other business tenders, this tender has also been floated merely to appoint a consultant. The consultant will guide IRCTC and lndian Railways on monetisation activities and advise on monetisation value of Digital Assets observing various Acts or laws including lT Act 2000 and its amendments, User data privacy laws including GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and current ‘Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 of lndia. Further, being a Government Company, it is a regular practice to float tenders,” IRCTC said. in a filing on BSE.