Dear shareholders, good morning and warm welcome to you all to the 21st Annual General Meeting of IRCTC Limited through video conferencing or other audiovisual facility. As a reminder, for the smooth conduct of the meeting, the members will be in the mute mode and audio and video will be opened when they will speak at the AGM as for the pre-registration. Please note that as for the requirements, the proceedings of the annual general meeting will be recorded and available on the website of the company. I now hand over the proceedings to Ms. Suman Kalra, Company Secretary of IRCTC Limited.
Good morning to all of you. Dear shareholders, I, Suman Kalra, Company Secretary of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited, extend a very warm welcome to all of you to this 21st Annual General Meeting of the company. You are all aware that due to COVID-19 pandemic, this AGM is being held through video conferencing in compliance with the applicable provisions of the Companies Act, general circulars issued by Ministry of Corporate Affairs dated 8th April, 13th April, and 5th May, 2020, and SEBI LODR Regulations 2015.
All efforts have been made by the company to enable members to participate and vote on the items being considered in the meeting. Registers are open for inspection as per the requirement of statute. I take privilege to introduce Board of Directors to your company. We have with us Mr. Mahendra Pratap Mall, Chairman of your company. Shrimati Rajni Hasija, Director of Tourism and Marketing. Sri Ajit Kumar, Director, Finance.
Shri Vinay Srivastava, Government Nominee Director and Chairman, Stakeholders Relationship Committee. He's attending meeting from Ministry of Railways, New Delhi. Ms. Sarita Deshpande, Independent Director and Chairperson, Audit Committee. She is attending meeting from Bhopal. Ms. Vandana Bhatnagar, ED Catering Railway Board, nominee for and on behalf of President of India, attending meeting from Ministry of Railways, Delhi.
Namaskar. Mr. Nitin Jain, Statutory Auditor from Delhi. Mr. Amit Agarwal, Secretarial Auditor, attending meeting from Delhi. Shrimati Balika Sharma, Scrutinizer for the AGM, attending meeting from Rohini, Delhi. I now request Chairman and Managing Director of your company to address you all.
Very good morning to all of you. Dear shareholders, as per the requisite quorum for the Annual General Meeting is present, I call the meeting in order. I welcome you all to 21st Annual General Meeting with the permission of shareholders. The notice convening the Annual General Meeting and directors' report already circulated to you are taken as read.
I would also take the opportunity to brief our esteemed shareholders about the performance of our company. Dear shareholders, it gives me immense pleasure to welcome you all to the 21st Annual General Meeting of your company and share a glimpse of remarkable journey IRCTC has traversed in the last fiscal year. On behalf of Board of Directors of IRCTC, I thank you all for joining us today for the Annual General Meeting.
Your presence is indeed a true testimony to your involvement and support for the company, which has successfully completed a momentous journey of 21 years serving the society at large and rail passenger in particular. I trust your family and you are keeping well through these testing times. I also pray that in the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic, you and your dear and near ones continue to remain safe and healthy.
Today, almost every country in the world is feeling the devastating impact of COVID-19 and collateral damage it has caused to life, health, and economy. In the unprecedented and challenging times, we stood as one nation in the fight against pandemic. IRCTC provided all possible assistance to the central government in serving underprivileged section of the society.
Despite huge constraints during lockdown, IRCTC distributed more than 21 lakh meals to the needy people across the country in close coordination with local administration, NGOs, and Railway Protection Force from its 30+ kitchen units spread across India. I assure you that your company is fully prepared to gradually commence its business activity by adhering to all safety health protocols issued by Government of India.
The management has already adapted itself to the new normal and taken necessary steps to ensure a smooth operation as our workforce has already been trained for serving the customers in these difficult times. We are fully confident that feedback from our valued customers will help us to foray and enter into the new normal for hospitality sector in the post-COVID-19 scenario quickly.
Over the last two decades, IRCTC has grown many folds from a catering and tourism company to a full-fledged travel, tourism, and hospitality hub, offering a host of products and services to customers with entry in uncharted territories of growth in new business segments, such as corporate train operation, e-commerce in form of payment gateways and e-wallet, cruise business, data, and website monetization.
The confidence and faith of investors in your company was seen by all when IRCTC went public in 2019. It became one of the best performing IPOs among the CPSEs, with an oversubscription of around 112 times, with more than 100% return to investors on the very first day of listing in the stock exchange of the country. Company has witnessed multidimensional growth and achieved path-breaking success during the year under review. I consider it an honor to present the outstanding performance of your company once again.
The company's financial statement for financial year 2019, 2020, along with directors', auditors', and CAG's report have been circulated to you. With your permission, I take them as read. I am happy to inform that fiscal 2019, 2020 was a year to be inscribed in golden letters for IRCTC, and has witnessed a host of achievements and milestones in various spheres of business of the company.
The turnover of your company increased by 21.68%, rising from INR 1,870 crore in 2018-2019 to INR 2,275.48 crore in 2019-2020. Profit before tax of the company increased by 55.75% from INR 478.56 crore in the previous year to INR 745.35 crore in the fiscal 2020. Your company recommended the highest ever dividend of INR 200 crore, including interim dividend of INR 160 crore already paid to shareholders in March 2020 for financial year 2019-2020 in compliance of DIPAM's guideline on capital restructuring.
In catering segment, IRCTC managed onboard catering services in around 417 passenger trains, including Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto, Tejas, Gatimaan, Vande Bharat, and other mail express train. With the commissioning of 60 new food plaza and 44 fast food units during the year, operational catering units across Indian Railways reached to 293. On the e-catering front, your company's performance scaled new heights with the 21,571 meals being ordered by the passenger on average on daily basis.
The total production of Rail Neer plant grew by 27.91% in 2019-2020 as compared to previous year, which has been very remarkable. IRCTC's Rail Neer packaged drinking water caters to 55%-60% demand of Indian Railways. Company has 14 operational Rail Neer plants at present in Delhi, Patna, Palur, Ambernath, Amethi, Parassala, Bilaspur, Sanand, Hapur, Mandideep, Nagpur, Jagiroad, Jabalpur, and Sankrail. Of these, nine plants are being operated under PPP.
Company has also planned for setting up two more plants at Bhubaneswar and Simhadri near Visakhapatnam. In travel and tourism, today, IRCTC is one of the leading travel and tourism companies in the country with a host of tourism products and services catering to diverse tourist segments. IRCTC being essentially a travel and tourism arm of Indian Railways, specializes in rail-based tourism and has always been a market leader in this segment.
Today, IRCTC operates Bharat Darshan trains for the budget segment travelers, Deluxe tourist train for mid-segment tourists, and Maharajas' Express for the luxury segment. In the fiscal 2019, 2020, IRCTC took over the operation and management of Golden Chariot luxury train from Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation Limited, which is set to restart the operation of train in January 2021.
Besides rail tourism, Company has diversified into various other tourism businesses for increasing its presence in online travel agency market as a full-fledged OTA to increase its share in fiercely competitive tourism market, that is international and domestic air packages, land tour packages, hotel booking, customized and LTC tours, event management, etc., through www.irctctourism.com. IRCTC also offers forex, visa, and overseas insurance services.
It gives me immense pleasure to inform that IRCTC, for the first time, ventured into the business of private train operation with Ministry of Railways entrusting the project of operating two rakes of Tejas. IRCTC accordingly started the operation of IRCTC Tejas Express on Lucknow-Delhi-Lucknow route and Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Ahmedabad route. Both the trains have been received very well in the market due to level of services and punctuality. Further, overnight private passenger train, Kashi Mahakal Express on the Varanasi-Indore route, that also commenced operation last year.
In the field of internet ticketing, e-ticketing booking through the irctc.co.in accounted for 72.75% of total reserved tickets being booked on Indian Railways. On an average, more than 8.25 lakh tickets were booked daily through IRCTC website and mobile app during last year. Your company has levied a convenience fee on e-ticket booking from 1st September, 2019 at the rate of INR 15 and INR 30 per ticket for non-AC and AC classes respectively.
Charges are exclusive of GST. New initiative of company included CAPTCHA-based login, railway complaints registration by dialing 139 and RailMadad . IRCTC also collaborated with National Disaster Response Force for providing e-ticketing services to its personnel. The other major achievements in the field of non-railway ticketing business was launch of iPay, payment gateway for internet ticketing, and development of a new user interface of IRCTC Rail Connect mobile app on Android platform.
We at IRCTC have the aim of corporate governance by ensuring fairness for every stakeholder, that is customer, investor, vendor partner, and community. I am pleased to share that your company has received excellent rating on compliance of corporate governance for the year 2019, 2020 by Department of Public Enterprises. As stipulated in the guidelines issued by DPE, a separate section on corporate governance has been added in the directors' report and a certificate regarding compliance of conditions of corporate governance has been obtained from practicing company secretary in addition to secretarial audit.
The CSR policy of the company is aligned with the national focus on all-inclusive growth, DPE guideline on CSR and Companies Act, 2013. To support the nation in these trying times of COVID-19 pandemic, company has contributed INR 20 crore to the PM CARES Fund, including INR 28 crore from CSR budget.
The company employee also contributed one day of their salary to PM CARES Fund in the fight against COVID-19. Before I conclude, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of you, the esteemed shareholders, for your confidence and valuable support to the board of directors and to the company as a whole, and also being witness to this AGM. I am sure that you will continue to show your confidence and trust towards us as an organization which will enable us to scale new heights in business.
I am grateful to agencies and institutions from Government of India, particularly Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Tourism, DIPAM, Ministry of Finance, SEBI, stock exchanges, BSE, NSE, Department of Public Enterprises, zonal railways, statutory auditors, secretarial auditors, Comptroller and Auditor General of India, all state government departments and our partner for their continued guidance and support to the organization.
I thank all my colleagues on the board for helping me in creating good governance culture across the organization and fulfilling the responsibilities of the board. I would like to place on record the sincerity, hard work, commitment, and dedication of entire IRCTC team, which has enabled us to grow in multiple direction as a travel and hospitality company.
I seek your continued support in making the company more sustainable and resilient to external challenges from time to time. I take this opportunity to thank all the other predecessors for bringing and providing invaluable support. Stay safe, stay healthy. Now I would request Company Secretary to read auditors report.
The tool of independent auditors and secretarial auditor along with respective management replies form part of the annual report. We are pleased to inform that independent auditors report is not modified one. With the permission of shareholders, I would read extracts of first and last paragraph of independent auditors report. As per the auditors report, in their opinion, and to the best of their information and according to the explanation, the financial statements read along with audit report give a true and fair view in conformity with the Indian Accounting Standards prescribed under Section 133 of the Act read with relevant rules.
The last paragraph of the report is with respect to the other matters included in the auditors report in accordance with the relevant rules, confirming that the company has disclosed impact of pending litigations on its financial position, has not entered into long-term contracts including derivative contract, and no amount is required to be transferred to IEPF. I will now read out the process for voting through electronic voting system, InstaPoll.
In pursuance of Regulation 44 of SEBI LODR Regulations, 2015 and Section 108 of the Companies Act, 2013, the remote e-voting facility was available from 9:00 A.M. on 24th October, 2020 up to 5:00 P.M. on 26th October, 2020. Those who have not cast their vote through remote e-voting process have been provided the facility to cast vote through InstaPoll, which will be made available on the video conferencing screen and will be activated once the InstaPoll is announced.
As per the notification dated 19th March, 2015 of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, shareholders who have cast their vote through remote e-voting process can attend the annual general meeting but shall not be allowed to vote again in the meeting. Ms. Balika Sharma of Messrs Balika Sharma & Associates, Company Secretaries, has been appointed as the scrutinizer to scrutinize the remote e-voting process, including voting through electronic voting system. The results of voting along with scrutinizer's report will be available at the website of the company, www.irctc.com. Now I request our chairman for further proceedings.
The polling process is open since the start of the meeting and will close after 15 minutes on the conclusion of this meeting. Those who have not cast their votes may exercise their voting right. Now I would request company secretary to read out the agenda item of the meeting.
I will read out the items of the business of the AGM now. Ordinary business. First item is to consider and adopt the audited standalone financial statements of the company for the financial year ended March 31, 2020, along with the Board Report, the Report of Auditors, and comments of CAG of India thereon. Second item is on dividend.
To confirm the payment of interim dividend of INR 10 per share amounting to INR 160 crore, and to declare a final dividend of INR 2.5 per share amounting to INR 40 crore on 16 crore equity shares for the financial year 2019, 2020. Third item is to appoint a director in place of Srimati Rajni Hasija, Director of Tourism and Marketing, who retires by rotation and being eligible offers herself for reappointment. Item number four is to take note of the appointment of Messrs. P.R.
Mehra & Co., statutory auditors for the financial year 2021, appointed by CAG of India, via its letter dated 10th August, 2020, and authorize the Board of Directors of the company to fix their remuneration. The resolutions are resolved that pursuant to Section 139(5) read with provisions Section 142 of the Companies Act, 2013 and the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014, including any statutory modifications or reenactment thereof for the time being enforced, the appointment of P. R. Mehra & Co., Chartered Accountants, be and is hereby noted.
Resolved further, that Board of Directors of the company, on the recommendations of Audit Committee, be and is hereby authorized to decide and fix the remuneration, including reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses in connection with the audit work with the statutory auditors appointed by CAG of India for the financial year 2021. Now, we come to the special business.
Item number five is to appoint Shri Vinay Srivastava as part-time government director on the board. The resolution is resolved that pursuant to provisions of Section 149, 152 and other applicable provisions, if any, of the Companies Act 2013, rules made thereunder Shri Vinay Srivastava, ex-ED/PSU Railway Board, who was appointed as part-time government director by the President of India via Ministry of Railways letter dated 18th March, 2020 and subsequently appointed as an additional director by the board of directors with effect from 20th March, 2020 to hold office up to the date of this AGM in terms of Section 161 of the Companies Act 2013 and in respect of whom the company has received a notice in writing under Section 160 of the Companies Act 2013, be and is hereby appointed as part-time government director on the board of the company, liable to retire by rotation.
Item number six is to appoint Shri Ajit Kumar as Director Finance on the board of the company. Resolved that pursuant to the provision of Section 149, 152, 160 and other applicable provision of the Companies Act, Shri Ajit Kumar, who was appointed as Director Finance by the President of India via Ministry of Railways letter dated 29th May 2020 and subsequently in terms of Section 161 of the Companies Act, 2013, appointed as Additional Director Finance by the board of directors with effect from 29th May, 2020 to hold office up to the date of this AGM and respect of whom the company has received a notice in writing under Section 160 of the Companies Act, be and is hereby appointed as Director Finance on the board of the company, liable to retire by rotation.
I now request Chairman and other directors to answer the queries of shareholders relating to items of business.
I now invite the shareholders who have pre-registered to ask questions and have joined as shareholder speakers to raise their queries, if any, relating to items of business as mentioned in the notice of annual general meeting. I also invite shareholders to post messages on the communication box available on the screen to each member participating in the meeting, which would be replied suitably.
Operator, you may now go ahead.
Sure, ma'am. I now invite Mr. Yashpal Chopra to unmute his audio and video and ask the question or give comments. In the interest of time, may I request you to kindly request your questions or comments to three minutes only. Sir, your line is on mute, sir. Mr. Chopra, your line is on mute. Mr. Chopra, your line is on mute. If you could kindly unmute your line. Mr. Chopra, can you hear us? Sir, your line is on mute, sir. We are unable to hear you. We will proceed to the next shareholder as we check the connection with Mr. Chopra. I now invite Mr. Jasmeet Singh to unmute his audio and video and ask or give his comments.
Now, am I audible?
Yes, sir. You are audible. You may go ahead.
Great. Hello, everyone. I am Jasmeet Singh from Delhi, representing couple of other investors to read our common note. Respected Chairman, Shri M.P. Mall, Director, Tourism and Marketing , Rajni Hasija Ji, Director, Finance, Ajit Kumar, Company Secretary Suman Ji, other Board of Directors, along with my co-shareholders. A very good afternoon to you all, MD Sir, to begin with, I'm happy to note that all our IRCTC employees and their family members are keeping safe and fighting.
This being the first annual general meeting of our company after it has become public, was expected to be conducted in some auditorium, but due to current pandemic, it's taking place through video conferencing mode, which is fine. However, coming year onwards, presuming we will fall back to normalcy, we and other shareholders expect the company to conduct the AGM in a place like India Habitat Center in the heart of Delhi.
While the IPO price was INR 320, however, it was happily surprising to see our share price achieving new peaks month-on-month. In no time, our share price grew sixfold of the IPO price, which was nothing but a reflection of the increased confidence in the minds of the investor community, who visualize our company to grow at much faster pace than what we perhaps did during last many years. Today, our share price is most expensive amongst the PSUs, which in some way is discomforting. Instead of worrying, I would like to bank on the faith in my management to deliver positive results continuously, quarter-on-quarter, year-on-year.
I look forward to our leadership team to not only guide the existing verticals of organic growth, but at the same time, new verticals to add into our revenues, and existing portfolio for inorganic growth. While, Chairman sir, in addition to the 250 page exhaustive annual report, you have elaborately presented the company working, which more or less has covered all facets of our working.
However, we have couple of points to raise here under. First, given the government initiative to privatize the operations of certain trains, how fruitful our experience has been running Tejas trains on couple of routes? How exciting is this new domain? Given the poor image of services provided across the trains in India, we actually need privately managed trains at large in India.
Do we have the adequate resources to participate and turn this into a larger pie equaling profit earned through our various verticals such as ticketing or catering or through Rail Neer or say hospitality? Please appraise. Second, while we all pray to the God that this COVID-19 kind of situation do not ever happen again in future, but at the same time, may I request you to share our preparedness on how to negotiate the current pandemic from our business point of view if it continues for many more months.
Thank you, Chair, for announcing the final dividend in addition to the interim dividend already paid by the company. On corporate governance, I would like to thank the finance and the secretarial team led by Shri Ajai Srivastava, now Shri Ajit Kumar and Madam Suman Kalra, who are working very hard to maintain high standards of corporate governance.
We would like to acknowledge the hard work put in by our secretarial team to see the successful conduct of this virtual meeting being organized by our company and allow us to interact with you. To end, we wish the entire IRCTC team all the very best. Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Mr. Jasmeet Singh. We will now proceed to the next questioner. I now invite Mr. Yashpal Chopra to unmute his audio and video and ask his question or give his comments.
Honorable Chairman, sir, I am very much proud of the team you're holding it around you, sir. Sir, our company, which has done fantastically very well during the last 21 years. It was established on 21st September 1999, and now after 21 year, the company, which was established with only INR 20 crore as capital, that is now a big ocean having a INR 20,000 crore capital base.
That is a big achievement of the company. I must congratulate the management and the team over there. Sir, I must congratulate you for the success of IPO. That was a record subscription and the listing gains were fantastic and the people have been very happy with the performance of company and the company's performance has been excellent.
This is a maiden performance and there has been all-round growth in revenue, PBT, PAT, EPS and even the dividend declared and paid to the shareholders. That is handsome and that shows your investor friendliness for the shareholders. We are very much proud of you, sir. Sir, the main thing for which I'm proud of the company is that the novel products the company has taken.
The product of catering, the product of ticketing, the product of comfortable journey in the rail. I remember those days in 1990s when there was such a big racket was going on between the ticket clerk and those I call media men, those brokers and all that, and the people who are just in need of one ticket, they had to wait for hours and hours.
Even I saw the people just sleeping with their baggage on the station by just getting the booking on the next day. Within 15, 20 minutes, their booking was over. When the policeman over there, they said, "Go to that shop over there in front of the station, you will get the ticket for any station, any destination, any class, any rail, everything is available over there." Over here, nothing, because that was a corrupt time of Mr. Narasimha Rao, and everything was just corrupt at that time. By establishing this company, you have done a big blessing on the commuters. Now, the commuters are just blessing you for the comfort you have given to them.
Sir, even once the people would get their train ticket, the trains, whenever that would come to the platform, that was just in the shabby condition, and people would rush into their seats, and they would clean the seats with their uniform, whatever they were wearing. There was no concern for the cleanliness at that stage.
Now you have just changed the atmosphere. Now the atmosphere is that of Swachh Bharat, and that you are meeting the dreams of our Prime Minister. Sir, even when the people were just asking for the food and all that, most of the complaints in the complaint book, you can see the old record, that was on the quantity and quality of the food. The people were just repenting why they had just eaten that food.
Most of the people were taking the food from their houses, from their places, or from the hotels around that station and all that. Sir, you have just given this. This is a very big blessing you have taken. I say that the product company has chosen that is excellent. I know that people can afford any kind of amount if we can get good service.
You have just established even the private rail along with this government rail. That is a big thing. Those people who do not want to travel by air, they can enjoy that air facility in those smart rails. Smart rails with air hostess. Now you are going to provide the air hostess, that means you will be giving the feeling of the air service also. We are very much proud of you, sir.
Sir, now sometimes the query comes that I should ask for the performance of the company during 2021. At the same time, I know that 2021 first half year has been marred badly by this pandemic COVID-19. As our company deals with only the human mobility, and all the human beings, they are just within the four walls of their houses.
They have to move out only out of the dire necessity. That means when this climate of COVID-19 will go away, only then I can expect normal resumption of the performance, and only then I can expect it. I know that from your side, from the company side, the infrastructure is very much solid, and very much clean, and very much ready to provide all the facilities. We are very much proud of the company.
In the end, I would just congratulate all the management, their dedicated service over there. I pray God that let our corporate governance, because that lady is doing a fantastic job. She is just answering the queries of the people in such a quick way. We are very much proud of the corporate governance over there, sir. Of course, our company, which is just getting the international name, because once the international tourists will come over here, you are there to welcome them with the hospitality services.
I know this is going to be a very big feather in the name of our country, that will enhance the image of our country. That will virtually, our Prime Minister is very much proud of this company. This company may be called Navratna or Maharatna in the times to come. I wish you best of luck to all of you and to our dedicated team from the top to bottom. I pray God for their safe health and for the positive energy, positive vision. Best of luck to you. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chopra. I now invite Mr. Lokesh Gupta to unmute his audio and video and ask his question or give comments. In the interest of time, may I request you to kindly restrict your question or comments to three minutes.
Sir, are you able to hear me?
Yes, sir. We can hear you.
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Thank you, Mr. Gupta. I now invite Mr. Ashok Kumar Gupta to unmute his audio and video and ask the question or give comments. In the interest of time, may I request you to kindly restrict your question or comments to three minutes, sir.
Chairman sir, [Non-English content]
Yes, we can hear you.
Chairman Sir, Board of Directors and my fellow shareholders.
Myself Ashok Kumar Gupta, [Non-English content] Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Gupta. I now invite Mr. Amit Kumar Naredi to unmute his audio and video and ask or give his comments. In the interest of time, may I request you to kindly restrict your question or comments to three minutes, please.
Am I audible?
Yes, we can hear you.
Good morning management and my fellow shareholders. My first question is currently Government of India holds 87.4% stake in IRCTC and you recently appointed merchant bankers for offer for sale for a period of three years. What is your plan about this? The reason I am asking this question is recently one of the PSU company came up with the OFS and after that the price came down to 50%.
My serious concern is whenever you plan the offer for sale, plan it properly keeping in mind the interest of small shareholders. My second question is as per the current circumstances, I know it is very uncertain, but I just want to ask by when we will reach to pre-COVID-19 levels. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Naredi. I now invite Mr. J. Abhishek to unmute his audio and video and ask your question or give your comments. Would request you to kindly restrict your questions or comments to three minutes please.
Yes sir. Can you hear me sir, am I audible?
Yes, we can hear you.
Yes sir, my name is Abhishek, shareholder of the company. My DP ID IN301637 and client ID is 41359155. First of all, I congratulate the management on the eve of 21st annual general body meeting and the first annual general body meeting after the IPO. Sir, unfortunately we could not meet face to face this time but hope to see you in the physical AGMs next year.
Sir, we thank the management for having declared a very good final and interim dividend during the year. You have understood the pain the shareholders are going through in this pandemic situation and you have supported the shareholders by giving a very good dividend. I would like to appreciate the management for that and hope that company will continue giving such dividends to the shareholders in the coming years also.
Page number 40 sir, I can see that our details pertaining to Maharajas' Express is being given where we can see only 1074 tourists availed services in 2019, 2020 and 1142 tourists in 32 trips they availed in the previous year. Such a good initiative and a fantastic project by our IRCTC. We can see the number of tourists in this particular train are very less.
I would request you to kindly give discounts and regular cashback offers and vouchers to the tourists so that more number of tourists can join in this particular Maharajas' Express. I would request you to kindly arrange a visit in the Maharajas' Express for the shareholders. Exclusively for the shareholders on one particular day by intimating all the shareholders and interested shareholders can turn up, and also at a discounted price for the shareholders.
I would request you to please arrange this particular trip. Sir, overall basis the COVID-19 and subsequent lockdowns have left virtually no industry untouched, and I think even our industry is being affected very badly in this past six-seven months. Any employees we have sacked or salary cut in percentage, if any, during this particular pandemic, I would like to know from you, sir.
What is the view of the management going forward, sustainability of the profit earning growths are going to remain challenged in the coming quarters. Sir, I would request you to please take part in the investor relation exercise like on-call quarterly presentations and meeting global investors on a regular basis, so that this will increase the number of investments, and we can see a good appreciation of the share value.
Already our company has given us a very good return in the share market, but hope that in the coming future also the management is going to give us the same return in the years to come. Sir, nothing much to ask, sir. Hope to see you in the physical AGMs next year. I wish the company and the board of directors a great success and prosperity in the coming future. Thank you for giving the opportunity, sir.
Thank you, Mr. Kalra. I now invite Mr. Santosh Kumar Saraf to unmute his audio and video and ask your questions or give your comments. In the interest of time, sir, I may request you to kindly restrict your questions or comments to three minutes, please.
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Thank you, Mr. Saraf. I now invite Mr. Rahul Jain to kindly unmute his audio and video and ask your question or give your comments. I would also kindly restrict your questions to three minutes, please. Yes, we can hear you, Mr. Jain.
Sure. Good afternoon to the entire board members and our fellow shareholders. I wish you all good health. My question is, annual report where you have mentioned that rail catering industry is expected to grow at 7.5 to 8.5 CAGR over FY 2024 to INR 14.5 billion-INR 15.5 billion, which is quite conservative given the announcement of price increases for both catering segment onboard as well as static during the previous fiscal.
Can we assume that these hikes in price will not be implemented anytime soon due to COVID-19 factor? If these are going to be implemented, then when should we see this happening? This is the first question. Secondly, the significant underutilization of Rail Neer capacity at the moment. We have committed to a plan on building more capacity. What is the rationale on this aspect?
Lastly, given the current business situation, would not it be better for the company to look for divestment plan much later when the financial prospects for the company are far better placed rather than looking for it? I know it's not an immediate mandate, but just a comment on this would be helpful. That's it from my side.
Thank you, Mr. Jain. We now invite Mr. Sripal Singh Mohnot to unmute his audio and proceed to ask a question. Mr. Sripal, can you hear us?
Hello.
Yes, Mr. Sripal, we can hear you now.
Hello, hello.
Yes, we can hear you, sir.
[Non-English content]
Yes, we can hear you.
[Non-English content]
Thank you, Mr. Sripal.
Thank you.
I now invite Mr. Prakash Jungdad to kindly unmute your audio and proceed to ask your question.
Yes. Mr. Prakash Jungdad here.
Yes, we can hear you, sir.
IRCTC website needs to be more user-friendly, and I don't know at present how many languages it supports, but if it can support more number of languages, it will be very useful. All the best to the management for the future. Cancellation charges also can be reduced a little bit. That is what I feel. Thanks very much.
Hello. Now senior citizens are given very good concessions. Those who enjoyed children's ticket at half rate during their younger age, now they are enjoying 60 years and more, half rate. Today, children are paying more or they are issued a ticket at half the rate without any seat. Please look into the younger generation. They will curse the past management.
Those who enjoyed are paying extra. From Britishers or even at the independence period also, there was no concession for senior citizens. I am not talking about senior citizen, but my children have to pay for their children double rate, threefold rate. Please look into it as a common gesture. Thank you.
Thank you, Vishwakant. That was the last question from the participants.
I'll address the issues. First, I'll address the issues raised by individual speakers, and then maybe in brief, I'll comment on the future plans of IRCTC, as somebody was mentioning about diversification and all. I'll mention that. Coming to Mr. Jasmeet Singh, he wanted to know about the operations of private trains, new trains, and for many new trains ventures which Indian Railways are privatizing.
We started with the private train operation last year. That is on first train between Lucknow and Delhi was flagged off on fourth of October 2019, and second train was on 17th of January between Ahmedabad, Mumbai. Third was Kashi Mahakal Express. Of course, that ran only for a few trips then this COVID-19 thing came up.
As per original projections given by consultant and as per demand analysis and market survey done by us, these trains were to break even in later part of year one or beginning of year two. With superior service and assured travel time by ensuring a limited refund in case of delayed operation for the first time in India, we could manage our occupancy level and fare level that Lucknow Tejas was almost breaking even in first six months of operation.
When the operations closed in March, it was on verge of breakeven. Surprisingly, Ahmedabad Mumbai Tejas, there was breakeven since day one, which was a unique thing which we achieved, and we were also surprised. Yes, in that sector, there is demand for superior travel, for a better travel. There is a scope for such trains. There is demand for such trains in India.
Now that Indian Railways are coming out with a big plan for private train operation, and we have participated in that, we also want to enter into a big way. We hope that this segment will be a new area for IRCTC, and as on date within country, there is no other operator who has any experience of running the corporate train or private train or trains similar to this.
Mr. Chopra mentioned about, of course, he appreciated, and then he was worried about performance of 2021. Yes, all of us are worried about performance of 2021 because of this pandemic. Our first quarter results are out, and you must have seen it. For the first time, this was a balance sheet in loss. I'm happy to share that we may come out of it soon.
First quarter was pretty bad because there was no train operation for almost two months. Gradually, as and when this train operation is picking up and train movement is picking up, I'm sure we'll also come out of red. Mr. Lokesh Gupta mentioned about stay arrangement.
This is just to inform that we had tied up with Hotel Association of India and Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India, because they approached us. In fact, we had a meeting, and they wanted us to work on the line of other OTAs and have a tie-up with us for a limited commission, unlike other OTAs who had started facing them. We had one agreement with their chapter of North India, and a broader agreement was proposed to be signed on 21st January at Jammu. It was postponed because of this pandemic coming up.
This is just to keep you informed that we already have tie-up with this Hotel Association and Hotel and Restaurant Association, and their North India chapter, they are signing, and the moment situation improves, all these agreements will be finalized, and this will be a new business stream from IRCTC. Mr. Ashok Kumar Gupta mentioned about fast food chains.
Actually, these fast food chains are basically set up at a space allocated by Indian Railways to IRCTC based on demands of station and demands from customers. As and when it is allotted, we immediately go for it. Mr. Ravi Naredi spoke about plan for divestment. Frankly speaking, sir, we have little say on this. It's basically decided by Ministry of Finance when and how much to divest. Now, his second query was when would we reach pre-COVID-19 levels. Pre-COVID-19 levels, I'm sure, all of us are suffering from this.
Once this fear for travel goes away, fear for movement goes away, I'm sure once this mental block is removed, within one quarter we'll be back to pre-COVID-19 levels. Mr. Abhishek mentioned about capacity of Maharaja, bookings in Maharaja. Just to inform that this is not a normal train where 1,000 passengers travel. This is a train which has capacity of 74 berths only, 74 cabins, 74 seats in 37 cabins.
This altogether different product, certainly we'll consider a visit for shareholder and maybe a discounted rate for shareholders also we'll work out, sir. You also asked about job cut and salary cut. We are one of the resilient organization with a very flexible working model. Job cut and salary cut are perhaps the easiest option to save on expenditure, but then it has long-term impact on morale and culture of the organization.
We had not thought of it, and we have so far managed well. In view of future, what we are seeing, I don't think there is any need for this to demoralize our staff, because ultimately it is the employee and the staff of the organization who drive the organization. Yes, some perks and privilege cut was done at directors level and GGMs level, which is not even 1% of the top.
Mr. Saraf mentioned about bills that we'll look into, sir. We'll certainly take care of it. About ticket date change without any cancellation charges on IRCTC tickets. This is an issue to be sorted out by Ministry of Railways. We'll approach them, but there is one basic difference, sir.
There is a difference between a ticket taken from window and ticket taken from IRCTC that even a waitlisted ticket taken from a window is considered as authority to travel. If a person is found with that on that particular train, he is not treated as passenger without ticket. Unlike that, a passenger who is found with a waitlisted ticket issued through IRCTC system on that train, he is treated as passenger without ticket. Anyway, you have addressed, we will certainly approach Ministry of Railways. Mr. Rahul Jain mentioned about hike in prices of catering and underutilization of Rail Neer capacity.
Hike in price of catering was to be effective from November 2019 for post-paid trains where food is sold against cash or money, which was implemented. In case of prepaid trains, that is Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto, this was to be effective from February as advance reservation for four months was already done. In the meantime, this pandemic, because of this, it could not be implemented.
We are working with Ministry on various models to sort this out. Underutilization of Rail Neer capacity, I believe there is some misunderstanding because all our plants are running at more than 88%-89% capacity. This may have the reason because we commissioned four plants in last financial year, and in first year of its commissioning, any plant's capacity is restricted to 30%, then it gradually goes up and third year it becomes 100%.
Mr. Mani Sundaram mentioned about website being more user-friendly. Sir, unlike other websites, we have certain constraints, primary constraint being of this huge demand-supply gap, and that demand-supply gap within first five minutes of operations starting.
That is when advance reservation starts at 8:00 A.M. to 8:05 A.M., when Tatkal starts 10:00 A.M. to 10:05 A.M., and 11:00 A.M. to 11:05 A.M.. That is the time when many unauthorized software, that is what we gather with many unauthorized agents, vendors, they approach our website through unauthorized software, and they take bulk of the tickets, depriving individuals of the ticket. At times, we deliberately make our site slower to escape the software. Sometime, minimum time taken is how much? About 40 seconds.
40 seconds is minimum. Before 40 seconds, nobody can take the ticket. There are a lot of efficient people who can claim to get ticket within 15, 20 seconds. We put hurdles so that nobody is able to take before 40 seconds. Otherwise, every ticket will be taken away by software. Anyway, still your suggestion is welcome. We'll look into that.
About these cancellation charges you mentioned, yes, this is a policy decision to be taken by Ministry of Railways. At last, Mr. Bharat mentioned about various kind of discounts, senior citizen and all that. It's a policy decision to be taken by Ministry of Railways. These were some of the queries. Yes, hotel tie-up we have already mentioned. New trains we are entering. We are trying to diversify more and more. We have a young team which has been put on the job. I'm sure that company will keep on performing good. Thank you, sir.
Thank you very much, sir. We have one question from Mr. Yusuf Rangwala. He has now connected. I will add him to screen right now. Mr. Rangwala, if you could kindly unmute your audio and video and proceed with the question. Would request you to kindly restrict it to three minutes only.
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Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Rangwala. Sir, that was the last question that we had.
Since Q&A session is over, the icon for e-voting is available on the screen. This will redirect you on a separate window to the e-voting portal of NSDL. The e-voting facility will be active from 11:30 A.M. and will be closed 15 minutes after the closure of the meeting. The results of voting will be declared by 12:00 tomorrow and will be intimated to the stock exchanges also. I would request Srimati Rajni Hasija to give a vote of thanks.
Namaskar. A very good afternoon to you all. It gives me immense pleasure to propose the vote of thanks to our Chairman and Managing Director, Shri M.P. Mall, board members of the company, representative of the Honorable President of India, Ms. Vandana Bhatnagar, and valued shareholders, statutory and secretarial auditors of the company, NSDL and Korus. I would also like to thank M/s Alankit Assignments Limited, registrar and share transfer agents of your company. Last but not the least, the entire IRCTC team who has really slogged hard to bring this company to at this level. Thank you very much.
Thank you, ma'am. Dear members, as advised by scrutinizers, the time for e-voting has elapsed, and they are of the view that all members who are participating in the annual general meeting have been given adequate time and opportunity to vote at the AGM, and this concludes the proceedings of the AGM. Thank you all for participating in the AGM and e-voting.