Thank you, Guest. Good afternoon, everyone. On behalf of Dolat Capital, we welcome you all to the Q1 FY 2024 conference call of IRCTC Limited. I take this opportunity to welcome the management of IRCTC, represented by Ms. Seema Kumar, who is CMD of the company, and Mr. Ajit Kumarji, who is Director of Finance and CFO of the company. Also, we have today with us, Dr. Lokiah Ravikumar, who is Director of Catering Services, and Mr. K. M. Mishraji, who is Director for the Tourism and Marketing segment. Now, I would like to hand the conference over to IRCTC management to take the proceeding forward. Over to you, sir.
Good afternoon, everyone. I extend a very warm welcome to all of you for this con call of IRCTC Limited for the Q1 of FY 2024. As we are aware, IRCTC has already announced the unaudited financial results for the first quarter yesterday. The same have also been disclosed on both the stock exchanges. I would now be giving a brief overview of Q1 FY 2024, which will be followed up by the detail of performance of our business segments by Director of Finance and CFO. After that, we will be having question and answer sessions. Q1 FY 2024 has been a landmark year for the IRCTC, with the revenues crossing the INR 1,000 quarterly mark for the first time since the inception of this company. An absolute revenue, EBITDA and net profit before exceptional items, also touching a new high.
Q1 FY 2024 revenue was at INR 1,002 , implying a growth of 3.8% quarter-over-quarter, and 17.5% year-over-year. The largest segment, catering, has been the main driver for this quarter-over-quarter re-revenue growth. Importantly, this is also backed by the improvement of EBIT margin for the segment to 14.6% in Q1, as compared to 12% year-over-year, and 12.1% quarter-over-quarter.
The consolidated level, despite the loss in tourism segment, due to a one-time adjustment of exceptional item of INR 51.9 towards provisioning of revised haulage charges, as mandated by the Ministry of Railways for the Tejas train for the previous years, the EBITDA margin came at 34.2%, as compared to 33.6% for quarter-on-quarter and 37.6% year-on-year. If we exclude this exceptional item of INR 52 for the provision of Tejas haulage charges, tourism segment has also registered a profit. Absolute EBITDA is also hit a new high at INR 343 . Net profit before exceptional item for quarter one came at INR 284 , as compared to INR 253 in quarter four of FY 2023, and INR 246 in quarter one of FY 2023.
I would like to conclude my opening remarks by saying that IRCTC continues to demonstrate its resilient business model during the important post-the COVID-19 pandemic. It is this resilience, combined with the commitment, that will help the company to continue on its growth path in future as well. Now, I will hand over the call to my colleague and our Director of Finance and CFO, Shri Ajit Kumar, to brief you on the financial and segmental performance of the company. Thank you.
Good afternoon, everybody. I hope you and your dear ones are in good health. I shall first give a brief overview about Q4 FY23 results, post which we shall have the question and answer session. Q1 FY24 revenue saw another quarter of good growth, both on quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year basis. Revenue of INR 1,002 , when we have marked the fourth figure, INR 1,000 , grew by 3.8% quarter-over-quarter and 17.5% year-over-year. Consolidated EBITDA margin improved quarter-over-quarter to 34.2%, versus 33.6% and versus 37.6%, given the change in revenue mix.
The net profit before exceptional items for the quarter came at INR 284 , versus INR 253 in Q4 FY 2023, and INR 245 in Q1 FY 2023. Let us move to the now, the different business segments of the company. The first one, the catering. The catering segment reported another quarter of a strong revenue growth of 20.5% quarter-over-quarter, and 35.5% year-over-year to INR 477 , and the EBIT margin also saw a good improvement to 14.6%, versus 12.1% quarter-over-quarter and 12% year-over-year. The internet ticketing segment continued to demonstrate resilience amid conversion of reserved towards tickets, back to unreserved tickets style during the pre-pandemic period.
The revenue for the quarter was at INR 290 , which declined by just 1.7% quarter-over-quarter, and 3.8% year-over-year. The EBIT margin for the quarter came at 82.7%, versus 88.1% quarter-over-quarter and 84.5% year-over-year. The tourism segment, it has seen the impact of seasonality, especially in the state business, with revenue for the quarter at INR 142.5 , implying a decline of 30.2% quarter-over-quarter. Overall segment issued a growth of 23.8% on year-on-year basis.
Given the decline in quarter-on-quarter revenue, the segment reported a loss at the EBIT level versus profit on quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year basis, due to a one-time adjustment of one exceptional item of INR 51.9 , towards provisioning of revised haulage charges of the previous years for the Tejas train, as has been mandated by the Ministry of Railways. Rail Neer saw Q1 FY 2024 revenue of INR 92.2 , implying a growth of 31.4% quarter-on-quarter and 10.2% year-on-year. Reported EBIT margin of 13.2% versus 18.6% quarter-on-quarter and 11% year-on-year, due to increase in the production cost, especially the petroleum products. The further the decrease in EBIT in current quarter, that is Q1 also, due to allocation of income because a reversal in provision of PRP done in the last quarter.
For Q1 FY 2024, the CapEx was INR 101 . The net worth and cash back balances company at the end of the quarter is INR 2,709 and INR 1,912 respectively. That brings to the end of the opening remarks. We can straightaway move to the question and answer session. Thank you.
Thank you, everyone, for that opening remark. At this point, I would request all the participant to use the Raise Hand option, which is available on the Reaction tab, on your Zoom platform. In case, you don't want to ask the question from a Raise Hand option, you can alternatively, give your questions on the chat window. We will read those for you. Thank you. At this point, I would request the participant to stay on mute, and only the participant which I announce for question can use their line to unmute and ask the question. First question is from Jinesh Joshi. You may please go ahead with your question, Jinesh.
Thank you so much. Two questions from my side. First is that, to what extent, there has been a revision in the custody charges for Tejas Express? On what grounds are we seeking a waiver from Railways for earlier years?
Okay. This I would like to answer this. This is a charge which has been revised from the post dated, that is from 13th August 2021 to 31st March 2023. What happens is, haulage indexation is notified by the ministry every year, for these two years, they have issued a surplus in division in haulage charges from August 2021. This letter was given to us only in the year 2023. We are not seeking any waiver. We have requested ministry to reconsider so that these re-revised charges should be made applicable only from the future date, not from the retrospective effect. We have made a representation, we are pursuing it with the Ministry of Railways.
Sure, would you like to call out a number in terms of how much the revision has been?
I would be... Just give me a second, I'll get the details, otherwise we'll mail it to you. I would request my CRO to give the details at this mail, whatever the revised haulage charges are and what was previously there. Thank you.
Sure.
Amount is already informed. It is INR 51.9 for the period 13th August 2021 to 31st March 2023. This is the total amount which has come to us as a liability, but, detailing, details of how this, these charges are calculated will be mailed to you. Thank you, Joshi-ji.
Sure. Secondly, if I look at this announcement with respect to this, INR 78 of investment for procurement of hardware and software, is this a part of our IT modernization plan that we had communicated earlier, or is this CapEx over and above that?
I would like to advise you, this is a part of the CapEx plan which we have advised. This is the upgradation of existing system, and we had projected this expenditure in this year as CapEx.
Sure. Just one last question. I think after reversal in tourist setting, the monthly average non-suburban traffic used to hover in the band of about INR 6 odd per month. If I look at the July month figure, which is available on the website of Indian Railways, the number has increased to about INR 7 odd. Is there anything specific with respect to this jump, which you would want to highlight?
See, for this quarter, which is we are talking April to June, this tourist, I will just give you a little background. This tourist reservation was reversed by ministry in the month of February 2022, right? It implementation took some time, date of, because of date of booking, and it was implemented in middle of the June-July 2022. Right. In this quarter, April to June, which is under consideration, my tours reversal has internet ticket of tours was INR 11.56 s in last year, first quarter, and this quarter is INR 10.41 s. That is, internet ticket has gone down by substantially for my system. Thankfully, up total system ticket, as well as my reserved and unreserved ticket, my performance share of e-tickets has gone up.
It was for the first quarter, share of total ticketing, e-ticketing has increased. Last year it was 79.64%, and this year it is 80.86%. Whatever pie is available to me for reservation, this is increasing.
Okay, madam, I'll take this separately. I think, I'll speak later on, on this. Thank you so much for your-
You can see whatever clarification on this through the mail, we'll provide you all the details.
Sure, madam. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next questions come from the line of Moksha Shah. Moksh, you can probably unmute yourself and ask your question, and I would request other participants who are willing to ask questions can raise their hand at this point. Thank you.
Hi, thank you for the opportunity. My question was on catering business. Catering and railway business, especially catering, the share has, the share from for the overall revenue has increased. It was 41% and now it has increased to 47%. Do you think how is this driven? Is there any specific reason, and how do you expect this to go, like, going forward, do you expect it to remain high as a percentage of total revenue?
Yeah. Ms. Shah, this, I would give you the reason why it has gone, why it is in the upward trend. See, pre-COVID-19, we had catering in, in 891 trains. I'm talking about 2019 pre-COVID-19 scenario. Now, at present, post-COVID-19, I'm talking as on, say, end of July, we have provided catering contracts in 1,209 trains. We are providing more and more trains, and around 200 more contracts are in pipeline. This is a reason, and for further growth, we are working on the reassessment of sale, which is mandated by the ministry. That would also give us a further flip in this catering earnings for IRCTC.
With this, we expect it to go increase.
Yes.
in a few years.
Yes.
If you could provide me the number of daily average tickets for this quarter, like quarter one FY 2024, how is this in comparison to the last year, same quarter?
You, you're seeking for this detail for the reserved segment?
Yes, ma'am.
Okay, just give me a moment. I'll provide this detail. I'll just tell you. This is, total tickets you are seeking, no, for this year?
Not the total tickets. It's yes, the daily average tickets.
This comes to around INR 18 per month for this quarter.
Per month?
Per month, average, per month. I'm telling you, per month.
Okay, okay.
For this quarter to be distinct for total is INR 54.70 s, to be precise, so average is around INR 18 s. In the last quarter, it was... Just, Ms. Shah, just give me a second. I would like to reconfirm the figures before I give you anything wrong.
No problem.
I stand corrected. Tickets, if you see, total tickets is INR 3.37 in the month of April, INR 3.56 in the month of May, and INR 3.49 in the month of June. This is a total listing of total tickets booked by IRCTC.
Thank you.
Okay, thank you. Next, I'll take a question from the chat window, which is that, in tourism, Q1 show, GC, gross contribution.
Not clear. Please, please come again. Please come again, please.
Yeah, the participant is keen to understand, there is a loss in the tourism segment, if you could explain more about it, why it happened and what is the gross contribution or gross margin?
Yeah, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, this tourism segment has taken a hit because of, around INR 52, to be precise, INR 51.9 , exceptional item taken into the account. This is because of revision in haulage charges from the post dated by the Ministry of Railways. If I take out this, exceptional item, then my tourism sector has also made profit.
... Thank you. I will take another question from the chat, which comes from Madhuchanda Dey . The question is: What is the breakup of internet ticketing between convenience fee, and what is the total number of tickets sold?
Tickets sold, I have already advised, in the previous question. I can tell you about the convenience fee. This quarter, this is Q1 of FY 2024, convenience fee is INR 198 . Any further information is required? I have told you about number of tickets as well as convenience fee.
Yeah. The other part of the question is: What is the breakup of other segment within the ticketing, internet ticketing segment.
Yeah, I.
Other than the convenience fee.
Yeah, I can say. Convenience fee is INR 198.48 . My service charge is standard INR 0.13 . Service charges other than the i-ticket is INR 19.48 . My agent commission received is INR 17.74 . License fee earned from the call center is INR 0.06 . Integrated 139 and Rail Madad is INR 2.05 . Agent login authentication, INR 1.97 . Inquiry charges are INR 0.8 , and chatbot charges are INR 0.32 . If we total everything in the internet ticketing, this comes to INR 290 .
Thank you. The next question is from Rohit. He has couple of question. The first question is: Why the margin in the ticketing segment has gone down sharply?
I would rephrase it. As we know that tourist ticketing was given to IRCTC during COVID, which was reversed by Ministry of Railways in the month of February 2022, and it was implemented up to July. Whatever we are seeing, as I read it earlier, there is a sharp decline in number of tickets and passenger of tourist segment, if we compare it to the Q1 of last year. This effect, it will last only till the, say, middle of the July. Now onwards, we will be at par with Q2 of 2022, 20.
Another question is on the catering segment, that how many trains, the catering services are provided by IRCTC, and is there any other impact because of the food inflation, to our catering revenues?
As I stated earlier, as, as on July 31st, we are providing catering services in 1,209 trains, as compared to pre-COVID, 891 trains. Since this tariff is fixed by Ministry of Railways, right now, we are providing catering at the same charges which were notified by the Ministry of Railways in 2019.
Thank you. Another question from the chat is: Can you explain about what is the revenue breakup from owned plant versus PPP model in the Rail Neer segment?
Yes, sure. The total we have 16 plants, out of which four are my departmentally owned and 12 are PPP model. In the pipeline, we have four more, which would be commissioning very soon, three in this year and one PPP plant next year. It will go into effect when in 2024, 2025. As far as revenues are concerned... I can give the production value. In terms of revenue, we would share it because this is a detailed item. See, I can give you a lumpsum figure of Rail Neer. Details of PPP and departmental, we will be sharing it later, because we don't maintain it in our accounts, in the books of accounts.
In the Rail Neer, in this quarter, we have earned INR 90.5 from the sale of the Rail Neer, and INR 1.61 as license fee. Total, my revenues from this Rail Neer segment for the quarter under consideration is INR 92.15 .
Right. The follow-up question on this is: What is the capacity at this point, and what is the utilization, and any upcoming plant later in this year?
As I said, the total 16 plants are operational today, with a capacity of 15 lakh 52 thousand liters per day. There are in pipeline, four more plants, which are, three of which are expected this year, and another one will go in the next financial year, with the total capacity with these four plants will become 18 lakh 40 thousand liters per day.
Thank you. There's another question from participant who wishes to understand, what are the plan on the Golden Chariot, do we plan to start that?
See, Golden Chariot is a luxury train which is owned by the government of Karnataka Tourism, and we are in the partnership with them for operation of this train. This year, they're already advertised some of the itineraries, and we are in touch with them, and we hope to do a good business on this model.
Thank you. Next, we'll take question from the participant who are online. We would request participant who wish to ask question can use the Raise Hand tab in the Reaction tab on the Zoom platform. The next question come from the line of Dipesh Lakhanie. Dipesh, you may please unmute your line and ask your question. Thank you.
Yeah, thank you. I just wanted an update on the payment aggregator license, and also IP revenues in this quarter.
Yeah. Give me a second. I'll just give it to you, IP. On the IP platform, number of payment transaction handled during this quarter is INR 1.54 . It has increased by 12.94% and 36% increase over the previous year.
Okay, update on the payment aggregator license?
In the process of getting this license from RBI, and as, as recommended by RBI, we are in the process of forming a subsidiary for this IP license.
Okay, okay. Also revenues for the Tejas trains-
Yeah.
its occupancy level?
I'm sorry, can you repeat the question?
Revenues for Tejas trains and its occupancy level in this quarter?
I will give it to you in a second. For there are two Tejas: There is one LTE and New Delhi Tejas. For this quarter, the occupancy has been 72.8%, and for Ahmedabad MMCT Tejas, the occupancy has been 89.2%. If we see revenue combined together for those, these two trains, INR 45.89 .
Okay, okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Next, we take a question from Devang, from IDBI Capital.
Hi, thank you for taking my question. Two questions. One is that, what led to the increase in catering margins, this quarter? What were the key drivers? Second one is, what could be the trajectory of tourism margins, considering that, you know, now revised all your charges will be applicable for Tejas? Hello, am I audible?
Sorry, I'll repeat it again. See, catering, as I told you, we have increased the number of trains on which we are providing the catering services. We are way ahead, even the pre-COVID scenario. That has re-increased my catering margins. As I, as I answered in the previous question, pre-COVID in 2019, we only were serving 891 trains. Today, I stand on 1,209 trains, and 200 additional trains are in pipeline. This has resulted into my margins increasing in catering segment. As far as tourism is concerned, Tejas is only one train. We are having around, IRCTC is having 10 trains from Indian Railways for Bharat Gaurav scheme tourism train. That is our biggest market now. In addition to this, I also run State Teerth Special. Tourism segment, we are having many products.
Tejas is just one part of it, and I'm very confident that we will do better in tourism segment in the coming season. As we all know, tourism sector, as an industry in India, is a seasonal thing. It comes, it picks up from September mid and goes up to February, which is a peak of this. I, I'm confident that we'll do much better in tourism segment in the coming quarters.
Would we be seeing similar margins which we saw for FY 2023 overall in tourism, considering the ups and downs?
Yes, we can. We are hopeful, and we are hopeful that we'll be able to meet this.
Okay. Thank you.
Are you done with your questions?
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. The next question is from the line of Rohit Jain. Rohit, you may unmute your line and ask your question, please. Rohit, you are on mute. Can you please unmute yourself and ask your question?
Yeah. Hi, can you hear me?
Yes, yes, you are audible now. Thank you.
Yeah, hi. My question was on the catering side. You mentioned the, the number of trains that you're currently providing catering services to. I just wanted to understand, what is the total number of trains potentially that we can increase it to? Like, I mean, in the next six months, how much can that increase by?
See, total Mail Express train as on date on Indian Railways are around 2,000 odd pairs. When I say pairs, it is one coming and going. We have around 2,000 pairs of train on Indian Railways, out of which the trains having pantry car or having a run of more than eight hours, we are looking for the providing catering services. That number comes around 1,500 odd pairs. We have already reached 1,209 trains. Now, we would be working on the remaining trains, and also we would be revising the license fee as mandated by Ministry with effect from as in the 2019. We are looking for a good trajectory in the catering business.
Right. As you said, we are already at 1,200, and potential currently as it stands, is about 1,500 trains. We can increase it by another 200-300, and then we would be pretty much at our, let's say, full capacity as far as providing catering services is concerned.
No, no. We are also like Indian Railways always announcing new trains. You know how Vande Bharat trajectory is going on. There are always a program of Ministry of Railways to announce new trains, announce new services, increase the frequency of trains, extension, election specials. We have lot of scope to do the catering business.
Fair enough. My second question, which again, somebody asked but was not clear, was, given the recent increase in vegetable prices, especially tomato and other things which have really increased a lot, and given the fact that our tariffs are fixed and are at 2019 levels, what sort of an impact would that have on the catering margins going forward?
Right now, right now, I can say that licensee is committed as per contract to provide the catering services on the tariff issued by the Ministry of Railways in 2019. That is a contract condition, and he is bound to give me this. As far as my revenues are concerned, they are absolutely protected.
Basically, you are saying that that hit has to be taken by the licensee, and basically, as IRCTC, you don't have to suffer any of that?
No, no, I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that. I'm saying whenever we... When the contract was signed between IRCTC and licensee, he was aware what services at what cost have to be given. We, we are continuing with the services with the same tariff as notified by the Ministry of Railways.
Understood. My second question is on the growth potential. Given that we are already at a pretty decently penetrated levels as far as e-ticketing is concerned in India, and the fact that the number of passenger growth in railways in India is, you know, low to mid-single digit at best. The number of trains added in the country also is pretty low, as, you know, as in comparison to the stock of the train that is already there. In the core segment of ticketing, should we expect the growth rates, apart from any tariff revision, to be in the mid to low single digit? Is that the right understanding?
No, no, we are expecting a rather shift in more number of people on e-ticketing. Right now, we stand at, say, 80.86% have booked through e-ticketing. With our efficient services, upgradation of our systems, more, we are hoping that we'll more number of people will shift towards the e-ticketing.
I understand that, but given the nature of the country and a lot of the population is still rural and uneducated.
No.
Is there a, a level at which you think, the e-ticketing sort of, maxes out in the near term?
Yeah, it does.
It cannot be 100%.
If you see with the IRCTC app, we are having six. See, with the IRCTC app being so popular, I'm 100% sure that people are, and this with government's 5G penetration and strengthening of internet facility right up to the village level, we are hopeful that more number of people will shift to the e-ticketing. Also with new trains being announced, with extension of services, with increase in frequency of trains, number of people will increase on Indian Railways.
Fair enough. Just last question from my side. Is there any discussion on any revision as far as the Rail Neer prices are concerned or, you know, ticketing convenience fee and the sharing with the government? Is there any discussion on renegotiations on that front?
We can only request or make a reference to Ministry of Railways. Rail Neer, we have written, and we would be pursuing it with the Ministry of Railways.
No communication from their side as yet?
This is in the pipeline. We have only made a reference, and now we'll be pursuing it. I cannot give any kind of a commitment on behalf of Ministry here.
Okay, fair enough. Thanks a lot for answering my question. I really appreciate it. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. At this point, I'll take two questions from the chat window. There's a question in terms of why the revenue, the non-ticketing part of the revenue have declined on a YOY basis?
I would request this question to be further clarified so that I can give the relevant answer.
Basically, the question, if I understood it right, is about, if you look at the non-convenience fee part of the internet ticketing, that revenues have declined from INR 100 odd to INR 91 . What is the reason for decline in the non-convenience fee part of the ticketing segment?
See, the UPI transaction share, it has increased. It was INR 3.84 in the Q1 of last year. Now it has become INR 3.93 transaction. What happens with this hike of transactions, my UPI transaction has a reduced convenience fee. From 15 and 30, it goes down to INR 10 and 15 for sleeper and AC correspondingly. Number of transactions are increasing of on UPI platform, and my corresponding convenience fee is little going down.
Agent business.
Even, there's a slight hit in the agent business, because, if we see FY 2023, it was INR 37, and, in this quarter, it's INR 32.39 .
Thank you. This next question is from Naman Jain. He's asking: What is the mix of tickets sold in terms of two way SL, class and different classes? Thank you.
Just give me a second, please. I'll give you. For tourist ticket, for tourist ticket, April to June last year, system tickets on the counters were INR 2.94 . Internet tickets were INR 11.56 . The total tickets for tourists were INR 14.5 . For this year, April to June, on the counters is INR 2.46 . Internet tickets are INR 10.41 . Total tickets for tourists is INR 12.8 . Number of tickets, totality for tourists has gone down. This is for tourist tickets.
Right. There's a follow-up, which is like: What is the breakup between AC and non-AC, tickets during the quarter?
For this quarter, if you see, this is 484 lakh tickets for the AC segment, and for non-AC segment, it is 558 lakh tickets for this quarter.
Thank you.
And-
lastly, what is the.
Sorry.
Sorry, ma'am, go ahead.
If you want the figures of the last year quarter also, Q1 of last year, for AC, it was INR 404 lakhs, and for non-AC, it was INR 754 lakhs.
Okay, thank you. This question is, last part of the question is: What is the UPI share in terms of ticketing?
UPI, as I've just mentioned in the previous question, it has increased the overall share. See, UPI transaction has, well, last year, INR 3.84 , it has increased to INR 3.93 . It is a share is 35.3% last year, and this year it is 37 point percent.
Thank you. At this point, we'll take questions from the participant, live on the platform. Next question comes from the line of Rahul. Rahul, you may unmute your line and ask your question.
Yeah, thank you so much for the opportunity. I have two questions. First, is any thought process by IRCTC for, for selling of, its consumer data as it can generate additional revenue to IRCTC in the digital world? Second, is any future perspectives of, you know, including even flight ticket booking business to IRCTC from Indian Railways, because the flight business is also, you know, rapidly expand, expanding in the, in the country.
Rahul, see, this data, which is on e-ticketing platform, is of passenger of Indian Railways. IRCTC is not right now planning on the monetization of this data, because this data is of the passengers of Indian Railways. As far as air ticketing is concerned, we, we have another segment where we deal with the air ticketing segment in tourism sector. Number of air ticket books in this quarter are 4.77 lakh. The last quarter, last year, Q1 was 4.5. You see this growth of 5% if we see Q1 as compared to the Q1 of last year. If I see Q4 of 2022-2023, it is a growth of 3.66%.
Yeah.
These are the air tickets being booked on IRCTC platform.
Yeah. Apart from the air tickets, I would also want to know what about the rail freight, which is currently dealt only by Indian Railways. Any, any future perspectives where IR, we can also, you know, book freight, bookings, rail bookings, from IRCTC?
Could you please clarify what kind of booking the Indian Railways are doing?
The right now, the current, freight, that is, the transportation of goods and-
I see, you, I, okay, the freight, you mean to say the, the goods, traffic?
Exactly, exactly.
That, that is another application which is hosted in this, and it is Ministry is doing directly through the Freight Operation Information System. IRCTC, as of now, has no this thing mandated. Company mandate here was just catering, tourism, and this thing for Indian Railways and e-ticketing.
Okay, okay, okay. Just wanted to know if we can add that, also business in the future, which can be re-remunerative for IRCTC.
Only if when ministry decides. Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you.
Are you done with your questions?
Yeah.
Thank you. Next, I'll take a question from the chat window. Ma'am, the question is, ma'am, comparatively from Q2, Q1 of FY 2022, revenue in this quarter have been weak despite so much demand in the tourism. What is leading to for this kind of a revenue?
See, in the tourism segment, as we have discussed before, we -- there's a profit. Only thing is this exceptional item, which is INR 52, which have come from the ministry. If I take out this exceptional item, which has been in the tourism segment, our revenues are up by. There's a profit in tourism segment as well.
Thank you. The next question is regarding what are the prospect of Vande Bharat train. Once all this thing, program goes on, what is the increase in the internet ticketing potential of the business?
Vande Bharat is also one kind of train which is available in the reserved segment for ticketing. There this inventory gets added to already available inventory for the ticketing. Vande Bharat is already continuously being added, and there is a very ambitious plan of the Government of India for having more number of Vande Bharat in the coming future. This will add to my prospects of e-ticketing doing better. This would also give us the additional opportunity for catering services when the new trains are added, as well as Rail Neer. My e-ticketing, catering, Rail Neer, entire segment will see a boost as and when these Vande Bharats are being added by the Ministry of Railways.
Thank you. The next question is related to related to this Data Protection Bill has been passed. It has, will become law sooner. Now, IRCTC plan for data monetization, what will be the impact for that? If you could give any brief on that.
See, as I told you, this data is belongs to the passenger of Indian Railways, and IRCTC is fully committed to follow whatever the act is passed by the Government of India.
Okay. Next question is, This is from Utkarsh Maheshwari. Are we looking to build for Vande Bharat like that of Tejas, tourism business?
Tejas was one of its own, one segment which was given to IRCTC by Minister of Railways. Vande Bharat is like other mail express, superfast trains and premium segment. This will, we would be doing the ticketing, catering, and railway services only in these Vande Bharat train as things stands today.
Thank you. The next question, is, on the lean period related. Is the reconciliation on the catering business regarding the lean period and normal period has been done with, or is there any more scope left in terms of any license fee revision in any contract?
This is going on and we would be finishing. We are doing it on priority, and maybe it will take 1 month more, then we'll raise the demand and realize it. This process is on.
Thank you. The next question from chat window is from M. S. Vinod. The question is, Ma'am, what about the RSD train? Any revenue and profit breakup you can share about it?
Say for one particular segment, I would be taking out the details, and my CRO will be sharing it with the, with the, the person asking the question, on mail. Right now, whatever details I've broadly, I can share with you. See, I can tell you the turnover, right? Turnover this quarter is INR 246 for RSD trains. As compared to Q1 of last year, this was INR 201 . This is a turnover of RSD trains. Other details we can give you, on the mail.
Thank you. At this point, I would request participant who may have any questions, can use the Reaction tab to do a raise hand and ask your question. The next question comes from the line of Dipesh. Dipesh, you may unmute your line and ask your question.
Yeah, as you mentioned earlier in this call that, four new plants are in the pipeline. Does it include Vijayawada and Bhubaneswar plants, which you mentioned in the previous call, like the management mentioned in the previous call?
Yes, these are. Yeah, these 4 upcoming plants are Bhubaneswar, Kota, NTPC, Simhadri, and Vijayawada.
Okay, okay. Like, when it is going to be operational, like?
We are looking for these Bhubaneswar, Kota and NTPC, Simhadri to be commissioned in this calendar year, towards the end of this calendar year. Vijayawada will go into the Q1 of the next year, next financial year.
Okay, okay. All these are PPP model?
Yes, all these are PPP model.
Okay, okay. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question from the chat window is related to: What are the prospect we see in the tourism segment? Overall, what are the potential from various segments, since all this pricing-related normalization has happened, what are the next few growth triggers? Thank you.
See, as I advised in, informed in the previous question, IRCTC has, has taken 10 rakes from Indian Railways for running tourist circuit trains under the policy of Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train. We are in the planning with these 10 rakes, under the right to use charges, which have been taken from the Ministry of Railways, we are looking for a, a healthy growth in the tourism sector.
What could be the growth trigger in other segment other than tourism segment?
See, we have already listing. As per the announcement of Ministry of Railways, around 475 Bharat, Vande Bharat trains are going to be added in next two years. If these 475 Vande Bharat trains are added in the fleet of Indian Railways, IRCTC is a natural listing to provide catering services, e-ticketing, Rail Neer. These are the impetus we are looking for our business of IRCTC.
Thank you. madam, what is our wage cycle, and when it will be effective?
Sorry, I didn't get the question. Can it be repeated?
What is the cycle for wage revision for our business, and when it will be effective?
For IRCTC, wage revision is done every 10 years.
Okay.
The last revision was done in 2017. Next revision is due only in 2027.
Thank you. Next question is from the chat, from the platform. The question is from the line of Ratan. Ratan, please, you may unmute your line and ask your question.
Sure. Thanks for the opportunity, ma'am. I have a question that our e-ticketing revenues have been flat over the last 15 months. My question is: There has been high inflation over the last couple of years. When are we likely to raise convenience fee?
Raising convenience fee is not within the purview of IRCTC's business, because that is decided by Ministry of Railways. As far as Right now, we are not considering any revision in the I stand corrected. My team is telling me. As of now, IRCTC is not looking for revision of the convenience fee. As far as e-ticketing business is concerned, we are seeing a plateau because lot of infra work is going on in Indian Railways. As you are aware, Indian Railways is adding new tracks. So much of infra, INR 24,000 have been given for new infra work on Indian Railways. Since these are being done on priority, you have a lot of NIs going on. This, temporary, and DFCCIL works are under under completion, track linkage is going on.
Little bit of, I must say, this diversions or little bit of discontinuity in what you're seeing in plateauing. With DFC coming up, a number of freight trains going on the DFC, we will have line capacity to run the passenger trains and which will ultimately result into more passenger traveling on Indian Railways and leading to an increased share of e-ticketing.
Yeah, ma'am, but the convenience fee is pretty low. INR 10, INR 15. I think it doesn't, because, if you look at our other revenues, which are, which have lower margins, it is important to balance this out, by raising prices.
See, currently, we are having a profit of around 80% profit in e-ticketing. There is no basis for increasing further this convenience fee and putting onto the Indian Railways passenger burden.
All right. Can you map out the, what is the e-ticketing revenue that can happen for per Vande Bharat train?
We need to work out the projection per Vande Bharat, how it comes to, because train-wide e-ticketing profiling needs to be done, and we will be sharing it soon with you.
All right. Thank you.
Thank you. That's all from my side.
Thank you. This was the last question for the session today. I would now request IRCTC management to give their final remark.
Thanks for this opportunity to us also, because we keep on want to learn the, that what is the, I mean, expectation from your side and as investors and on the behalf of investors, whatever you say. We try that within the policy guidelines to follow it and take the company to greater heights. If there is any other question, any more details, any more specific data, of everything we have, we are totally transparent. Please send on email 0 also, then we will share that everything is sent to you. Thank you very much.