The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has postponed the pre-bid meeting for the tender to hire a consultant for digital data monetisation “till further advice”.
“In the subject tender, the online pre-bid meeting as scheduled on August 24 at 12 pm is hereby postponed “till further advice” by IRCTC,” it said.
Following the pre-bid conference, the last date for the submission of bids was September 8.
The decision to postpone the meeting comes amidst concerns raised by experts and passengers over data privacy and leaves a question mark over the fate of the project.
While sources in the IRCTC have maintained that the project was at an initial stage and the data of passengers would have been safeguarded, the Ministry of Railways is understood to be reviewing the issue and may withdraw the tender.
Parliamentary committee meet
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology (2021-22) has also called officials of IRCTC on August 26 on the subject “Citizens” data security and privacy, where they are expected to ask questions on the tender.
IRCTC has recently floated a tender for appointing a consultant for digital data monetisation, which it expects will help generate ₹1,000 crore in revenue while enhancing customer experience.
The proposal, which would require the consultant to study customer data including name, age, mobile number, gender, address, email ID, number of passengers, class of journey, mode of payment, login and password as well as behavioural data such as payment and booking mode, frequency of journey, has fuelled concerns over data privacy.