Reflecting a strong recovery in travel and tourism, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on Wednesday reported 196 per cent increase in net profit for the first quarter ended June 30 at ₹246 crore (₹82.5 crore). The revenue from operations for the quarter under review rose 251 percent to ₹853 crore (₹ 243 crore).

There was a quarterly bottomline and revenue beat in Q1 2022 not only on a year-on-year basis but even sequentially when compared to March 2022 quarter on the back of revival in the catering business coupled with continued strength in internet ticketing.

It maybe recalled that IRCTC, which comes under Railways Ministry, had for the quarter ended March 31, 2022 reported a net profit of ₹214 crore on a revenue from operations of ₹691 crore.

Strong segmental show

The catering revenues for the first quarter ended June 30, 2022 came in at ₹352 crore, substantially higher than the Covid-19 pandemic affected Q1 2021 performance of ₹57 crore. The latest catering revenue was higher than the March 2022 quarter performance of ₹266 crore. 

Internet ticketing continued to show strength with ₹302 crore revenue, higher than ₹150 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. It was also marginally higher than the March 2022 segmental revenues of ₹292 crore.

The other key business segment of Rail Neer showed a strong recovery in revenues for the quarter under review at ₹84 crore (₹29 crore). It was also higher than the March 2022 quarter revenue of ₹52 crore on this front.

Meanwhile, in a filing with the stock exchanges on Wednesday,  IRCTC said that catering contracts awarded before March 22, 2020 have been treated as zero period due to pandemic and accordingly, no income as well as Railways share payable has accrued during the year 2020-21 and for the period up to November 26, 2021. 

Shares of IRCTC surged 2.13 percent on Wednesday to close at ₹672.50 on the National Stock Exchange, up ₹14 over the previous day’s close of ₹658.50 per share.

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