The Hindu Business Line : Low-cost tickets make up bulk of rail Net bookings

THE Railways' Internet-based ticket booking system is turning out to be a huge draw. And interestingly, the majority of the bookings are being made for the low-cost and non-AC ticket segments. Moreover, it is not just the metros that are generating the ticket-via-Internet demand, as there is a steady growth being witnessed in smaller cities such as Varanasi, Patna, Allahabad, Guwahati and Bhubaneshwar.

During 2003-04, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) earned roughly Rs 100 crore from the sale of online tickets. During August 2002 to August 2004, an estimated 13.30 lakh tickets were cumulatively sold via the Net.

But it is the micro picture that makes interesting reading. During the peak travelling period this year (March-April), the total number of tickets sold by IRCTC, at around two lakh, was twice the number sold over the same two months of 2003. Even in the slack months, the year-on-year growth was to the extent of 55 per cent — an indication of the sheer desperation of commuters to seek alternatives to conventional options of queuing up in long lines or being at the mercy of travel agents.

Significantly, the beneficiaries are not just the high-end Rajdhani-Shatabdi-travelling types. According to IRCTC's Group General Manager (IT Services), Mr Amitabh Pandey, non-AC travel now accounts for almost 50 per cent of tickets booked on the Net. And even within the AC segment, the cheaper AC-III tier and AC-chair car sub-segments corner a three-fourth's share. A clear instance of IT for the common man!

The IRCTC currently charges Rs 40 for booking and delivering each non-AC ticket and Rs 60 for AC tickets.

Another interesting trend is smaller towns capturing an increasing share and decline in the share of metros such as Mumbai and Chennai. "In April 2004, the proportion of tickets booked from smaller cities went up to 16 per cent of the total from 9 per cent in April 2003. But Mumbai's share in the total was down to 27 per cent (April 2004) from 33.4 per cent (April 2003). Similarly, Chennai's share was down to 13 per cent from 15 per cent during the same period," said Mr Pandey. However, Mumbai still continues to have the largest share of ticket bookings. The share of other top cities such as Delhi/National Capital Region (NCR), Bangalore and Hyderabad has remained the same by and large, he said. In revenue terms, IRCTC mopped up Rs 9.52 crore (August '04) compared with Rs 6.62 crore (August '03) from Internet ticket bookings, informed Mr Pandey. In March 2004, the corporation received Rs 16.91 crore compared with Rs 8.01 crore in March 2003. Similarly, in April 2004, the revenues were at Rs 16.1 crore, up from Rs 8.18 crore in April 2003.

As for the age profile, 37 per cent of online bookings are done by 30-40-year-olds, where as 35 per cent of tickets are booked by 18-30-year-olds. People aged between 40 and 50 account for 17 per cent of booked tickets, and the 50-60 age group accounts for 8 per cent of the ticket bookings.

Just for the record, IRCTC's recently launched mobile-based ticket booking initiative in Delhi and NCR debuted with two tickets being booked through the mobile on the first day. "While 250 queries were generated through the mobile, two tickets were booked," said Mr Pandey.

Meanwhile, given the fact that a total of over 500 crore railway tickets are booked annually; there's a huge potential to be tapped.

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