Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to IRCTC Q3 FY24 Results Conference Call hosted by Dolat Capital. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Rahul Jain from Dolat Capital. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Good afternoon, everyone. On behalf of Dolat Capital, we welcome you all to the Q3 FY24 Conference Call of IRCTC Limited. I know there is a delay in the call, and we apologize for that. Because of some technical reasons, we could not avoid that. But now, without wasting any time, I just take this opportunity to welcome the management of IRCTC, represented by Mr. Sanjay Kumar Jain, who is CMD of the company; Mr. Ajit Kumar Ji, who is Director of Finance and CFO of the company; and also we have today with us Dr. Lokiah Ravikumar, who is Director of the Catering Services; and Mr. K. K. Mishra Ji, who is Director for Tourism and Marketing Segment. Now, I would like to hand over the conference over to IRCTC management to take the proceeding forward. Over to you, Mr. SKJ.
Thank you, Rahul. A very good afternoon to everyone, and a warm welcome to you all to this conference call of IRCTC, quarter ending December 2023. I extend my warmest wishes to you and your family. Just to add that I have joined as a regular CMD of IRCTC, to share with you all what an important moment today. The company has announced the unaudited financial results for the third quarter of financial year 2023-24, which were disclosed yesterday on both the stock exchanges. I shall first give a concise overview of Q3, post which our Director of Finance and CFO will provide the details of the performance of our business segment. Thereafter, we shall have the question-answer session as per your convenience.
During Q3 this year, the company, I'm really happy to announce that the company achieved a remarkable milestone, with the operating revenue reaching to INR 1,118 crores, marking its highest ever quarterly revenue, implying a growth of more than 20% year-on-year basis, 21.8%, and 12.4%. Catering and tourism have been the main drivers for this revenue growth. The EBITDA for Q3 is INR 394 crores in absolute terms, growing by 20.9% from INR 326 crores of Q3 last year. Mainly due to the decent growth in catering and tourism business, the EBITDA margin came to around 35%, more or less similar to the last year, and 36.83% compared to Q2. This is due to the change in the product mix and a lower margin catering and other verticals as compared to the internet ticketing.
The company reported a net profit of INR 300 crores in December quarter of this year, making an increase of 17.4% in Q3 of the last year. The net profit also is the highest profit registered in the history of IRCTC.
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Yes, you're audible.
Just a moment.
Hello?
Hi.
Am I audible now?
Yes.
Am I audible?
It's clear.
So as I told, the company reported a net profit of INR 300 crores as against INR 255 crores last year. The net profit also is the highest ever profit registered in the history of IRCTC in this quarter, despite making a provision of INR 14.5 crores in Q3 on account of differential profit sharing for PPP plants in Railway segment with Railways. I would like to conclude my opening remarks by conveying warm wishes to all our investors, wishing you all a very profitable venture ahead. Thank you for your continued support and trust in us. I shall now hand over the call to my colleague and our Director (Finance) and CFO, Ajit Kumar, to brief you on the financial and segmental performance of the company. Thank you very much.
Good afternoon. Am I audible?
Yes, sir.
Ajit Kumar there for finance and CFO. I hope that you and all, hello?
Yes, sir. You're audible.
Audible. Now, I shall first give a brief overview about Q3 FY24 results, which we shall have the question and answer.
So there is a little bit of hearing noise.
Some little bit of hearing noise. Hello?
Hello? Can someone from management line - can someone confirm? Hello? Hello? Can someone from management line please confirm? Ladies and gentlemen, the management line has been disconnected. Please wait while we reconnect. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for patiently holding. We have the management line reconnected. Can someone from management line please confirm the line is unmuted? Hello? Can someone from management please confirm? Hello?
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Can someone from management please confirm?
We are in.
Hello.
Hello. Hand over. Hello?
Sorry, there is a little bit of- Ladies and gentlemen, the management line has been disconnected. Please wait while we reconnect. Connected? Yes. The line is clear. It's connected.
Yes, yes, yes, yes. So now it's audible, hopefully?
Yes, sir. It's clear.
Okay. So I'm Ajit Kumar, Director of Finance and CFO. So we'll start with some of the remarks for this result. In Q3 FY24, IRCTC experienced yet another quarter of robust revenue growth, marking another significant milestone in its journey. Revenue of INR 1,118 crores grew by 21.8% year-over-year and on 12.4% quarter-on-quarter basis. Consolidated EBITDA margin is more or less the same, that is, quarter-on-quarter to 35.23% versus 36.83% and 35.49% year-on-year due to change in the revenue mix. Now, net profit of exceptional items for the quarter came at INR 299.9 crores versus INR 255.2 crores in Q3 FY23 and INR 297.67 crores in Q2 FY24. Now, let us move to the different business segments of the company. In catering, the catering segment reported a 29.1% year-on-year growth in revenue, reaching INR 507.76 crores and a 17.6% increase on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
Additionally, it may also be noted that the Q3 and nine-month revenue in FY24 is the highest ever recorded in the catering segment. The EBITDA margin continued to show substantial improvement, reaching 15.44% compared to 10.73% year-on-year. However, there was a slight decrease compared to the 17.21% quarter-on-quarter margin, mainly due to changes in the product mix within the catering vertical, as the prepaid trains revenue, having low EBITDA, has increased Q3 to INR 9.76 crores from Q2 to INR 0.7 crores. The next vertical, the Internet Ticketing, this segment continued to demonstrate the resilient conversion of reserved 2S tickets back to the unreserved tickets during the pre-pandemic period. And the revenue for the quarter was INR 335.31 crores, growing by 11.4% year-on-year and 2.39% quarter-on-quarter. The EBITDA margin for the quarter came at 83.02% versus 83.7% quarter-on-quarter and 84.15% year-on-year. The next segment is Tourism as we have discussed.
That segment has shown strong growth in revenue for the quarter at INR 195.47 crores, implying a growth of 32.28% year-on-year and 21.11% quarter-on-quarter. Given the revenue growth, the segment reported positive EBITDA margin of 12.10% versus 3.6% on quarter-on-quarter and 10.79% year-on-year basis. The other segment, Rail Neer in Q3 FY24, reported revenue of INR 83.76 crores, marking a sequential growth quarter-on-quarter of 7.39% and year-on-year increase of 6.05%. The reported EBITDA margin is -13.43%, representing an improvement compared to both year-on-year figure of 11.20% and quarter-on-quarter figure of 12.43%. However, the segment's quarterly profit showed a negative return of - 3.3 crores, contrasting with the previous quarter's profit of 8.8 crores. This decline was primarily attributed to an adjustment of an exceptional item amounting to INR 14.51 crores in this quarter.
This exceptional item involved the sharing of additional 25% revenue from the PPP railway plant for previous years, which was accounted for in the third quarter. For Q3 FY24, the cash and bank balances and the net worth of the company at the end of the quarter is INR 2,258 crores and INR 2,946 crores respectively. That brings to the end of the opening remarks, and we wish you all the best. So now we can straightway move to the question-and-answer session. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone phone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. There is a little bit of distance from management's line. Ladies and gentlemen, the management line has been disconnected. Please wait while we reconnect. Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for patiently holding. We have the management line reconnected.
Am I audible now?
Yes, sir. It's audible.
So now we can straight move to the question-and-answer session.
Yes, sir.
Okay. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir.
Okay. Give it to CMD, Mr. Jain.
Okay.
The first question is from the line of Jinesh Joshi from Prabhudas Leeladhar Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, my question is on the catering business, which reported a very strong growth in this quarter. So was it due to higher coaches booked on FTR basis, or did we get more TSV contracts in this quarter? If you can highlight on that. And also, a related question is, we had plans to expand into the non-railway catering business. So if you can share some progress on that line as well.
Sure. Sure, Jinesh. First of all, I'm the catering business head. Can you hear me? Am I audible?
No, sir. You are not audible.
There is a little bit of distance from management's side.
Now I'm audible?
Yes, it's clear.
So Rahul, आप जब भी बात करें, please mute कर दें उसके बाद, so that ये sound नहीं आएगी. Please try once. Joshi, am I audible now?
Yes, it's audible.
So I'm seeing two or three reasons for the increase in such a robust catering revenue announcement. First is introduction of Vande Bharat trains. As against the announcement of 75 Vande Bharat trains this year, already 41 trains have been announced and running. The old contract, which expired this year, around 1,200, has now increased to 1,518 contracts, to be precise. And FTR has also increased, and FTR is also giving us revenue because of that policy that now all the catering in the FTR should be done by IRCTC. Yes, you're right that because of that also, it is adding to our revenue, and it will further add to our revenue. Then you talked about NRC. NRC also, we have this year only, we have already started eight NRC projects. Seven are in pipeline, and these are mostly government offices, high courts, etc.
In addition, we have tied up with Zomato also as an aggregator, food aggregator. You know that we are onto more than around 400 stations . We are providing e-catering services, whereas we have direct contact with around 480, 90 vendors. Aggregators also, we are eyeing aggregators like Zomato, and we have onboarded onto our system. Till now, we have 17 such aggregators with us. So all these reasons led to the growth in catering. One more thing which I want to add, that recently the Ministry of Railways has announced a new catering policy. Basically, it is an amendment to the old one, wherein a new concept of this cluster-based catering being announced. We have already floated some of the tenders, and we are going very aggressively towards that. The main highlight of the tender is this is a long-term tender. It will be given for five plus two years.
That's all.
Sure, sir. A related follow-up is that you mentioned that the current contracts are roughly at about 1,500 odd. So if my memory serves me right, I mean, in the last quarter, I think we were at about 1,300 odd contracts, and the opportunity size was 1,500. And given we have already reached that number, do you foresee a catering revenue plateau out a bit from here on?
No, no, no, no. It's a very good question, and I can understand your worry, but it's a matter of choice. You know that we are in the sector largely our catering is all our business, rather, is in Railways. And you know that Railways is growing, growing, growing. With DFC coming, the line capacity of Indian Railways will further get released, and there is a huge demand from passenger side. So once the passengers are there, they need drinks, they need food to eat that IRCTC provides, and they need tickets, which we issue. So we should try to do as much as we can.
Okay, sir. And my second question pertains to the additional provisioning that we have taken with respect to share in profits in our Rail Neer business. So our press release states that the incremental provision is taken until FY23. So do we expect some additional provisioning crop up in the future from here on due to higher share which we need to give to Indian Railways?
I'm not able to hear you. Kindly repeat the question. There was a discordance.
Sir, the provisioning in this quarter that we have took approximately INR 14 odd crores with respect to share in Rail Neer profits. Our press release states that we have taken provision till FY23. And for FY24, do we expect incremental provision come through from here on?
No, no. Not provided income. It's already provided. You see, there are two things in this which I would like to explain it to you. You see, the departmental Railway plant, we had to share revenue with Railway at the rate of 15%. But all the plants which are on PPP model, the revenue sharing is 40% of our profits. So earlier, what happened, we calculated 15%, and INR 14.5 crores is the grand total of the difference of 40% of our profit. Basically, net of the profit of 40% is 15%.
Sir, I understood that. Actually, the worry was that this difference in profit which you have provided for, you have stated in your press release that this has been provided for up till FY23, which is 31st of March 2023. For the incremental line funds, will we have to provide more? That was my question.
That's what I'll say. Up to December 2023, PPP sharing has already been made at the rate of 40% in this quarter.
Okay, okay. Sir, one last question from my side. If you can.
I'm on the provision of INR 14.5 crores for up to March 2023.
Okay. Maybe, sir, I'll take this offline. I just have one last question. If you can share what is the convenience fee and number of tickets booked for the quarter?
Number of tickets. That's the one. Convenience fee, number of tickets. Do you have numbers?
No, sir. Only this quarter. The convenience fee and number of tickets booked.
This quarter is 140. Number of tickets, 500. 140.
The row?
Whose second AC?
Hello?
Yes.
Hello?
Yes, sir. You are audible.
This AC class is INR 550 lakhs. Non-AC class, INR 456 lakhs. And second sitting is INR 140 lakhs for this quarter.
Convenience revenue?
INR 219 crores is the convenience. You got the question?
219 crores, right? Convenience revenue.
219 crores is the Q3 convenience fee.
Sure, sir. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. And the next question is from the line of Rohan Nagpal from Helios Capital. Please go ahead.
Hey, thank you. I have one question. On your catering revenue expenses, there is one line item in the income statement.
Rohan, can you please say that louder?
Yeah, just one second. Am I audible?
Yeah, yeah. Sure.
Yeah. So I was saying, within the, so on your income statement, there's a line item that says expenses of catering services. Now, that expenses of catering services, if I look at it, it's INR 348 crores or INR 349 crores. But that is not the same as the difference between your catering segment revenue and your catering segment result. The catering segment result is about INR 78 crores. The catering segment revenue is INR 508 crores. So what all is covered in that line item, expenses of catering services? And what are the other expenses within catering services that you are incurring?
No, no. This is operating profit. This is absolutely directly linked to the catering, whatever we earn the revenue from the catering, and it's a net of the direct cost which is there.
Okay. So what all is rolled up in that INR 350-odd crores in your expenses of catering services?
That is reimbursement of catering charges in Rajdhani Shatabdi to Railways. And the Railway share on the licensing.
Got it. Okay. All right. And I think this was a question that was asked earlier as well in terms of what.
Yes. I'm here. I'm able to hear properly.
Am I audible?
From Management Line.
Yeah. Please.
Yeah. So I was just wondering, on catering revenue in terms of the trains, how many more trains are there that are still under the old catering policy, and how much runway for catering revenue increase is there on the train side?
Do you mean to ask that the old catering policy, how many mobile units are there and as per the new policy?
Yes, exactly. So how many trains are yet to move to the new catering policy or yet to be transitioned?
Yeah, yeah. 100% has to be moved to the new policy because the policy has recently come. We have already started floating the tenders. So at the moment, all are only a tender or short-term tenders.
I understand that, but whereas floating trains.
That's why I told you that it will be for seven years.
Six months to seven years.
As of now, most of the tenders are up to six months.
Okay. So are all trains that are currently operational under the new catering policy, or there are still trains that are yet to sort of move on to the new catering policy?
Actually, this new catering policy has recently come. As I told you, this is again, I'm repeating, that we have just started tendering process. We have floated a few tenders, not yet finalized.
Okay. So then how long will it take for the tenders under the new catering policy to be applicable across the trains? Is there some sort of penetration number that you have in terms of there are X number of trains, and of these, how many are currently on the new catering policy or under tenders that are under the new catering policy?
All the tenders, all the trains which we are running at present, and all the trains which will be coming. Say we are having around 1,200 trains at the moment, putting all together. So all these will be put on the tender. And this will be a long-term tender because the size is quite large. We are aggressively following to finalize as quick as possible. In fact, let me we have already decided the previous about this.
Okay.
Anything else, Rohan?
No, that would be it. That would be it. Thank you.
Thank you. And the next question is from the line of Ashish Sreekumar. Please go ahead.
Ashish.
Yeah. Hi, sir. I just wanted to ask a question about the Zomato, the digital eatery that you were talking about. Could you specify how much has it grown? Because the catering service you said grew because of the number of trains, Vande Bharat inclusion. So what forecast are you thinking in the forward, in the coming days, how much is it going to grow?
Ashish, let me tell you how I see it. Number doesn't matter.
Hello?
Yeah. So I think there was some disturbance at the end, right?
Hello? Hello, moderator. Management, please confirm.
Am I audible?
Now you are audible, sir.
Yes.
Ashish, if you want, I can give you the number of. We are already there on POC concept, and we are at 18 stations now, and we are coming upon 22 additional stations, but number doesn't matter. Ashish, what I see is to make a framework, to create a framework, to create a network so that first, you put the system in place, and then with your strength of the network, you create stability in the market and confidence in the customer. That's what we are presently looking for.
Okay. So I believe that first, we are planning the entire structure first, and then based on that we'll increase the numbers. I got your point. Yeah. And one final question, sir. You might have seen that ONDC's inclusion has been included a lot. And ONDC has also gotten into the e-catering services through different aggregators. So is ONDC also coming into the ticket booking section for IRCTC? IRCTC planning something of that sort? Am I audible?
Yes, sir. You are audible. Can someone from management please confirm? There is a little bit disturbance. There is an incident. Line for the management has been dropped. Please wait. I'll be reconnected.
Okay.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for patiently waiting. The line for the management has been reconnected.
Now connected .
Yes, sir. You can.
Yeah. Yeah, Ashish.
Yes, sir.
We are discussing about ONDC, so our discussion is already going with them.
Okay. So any projected timelines by when you are foreseeing there could be an inclusion of ONDC into IRCTC?
It will be too early to say, but we are trying.
Okay. Okay. Thank you so much. That's it from my side. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Madhuchanda Dey from MC Pro. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. I have two questions. One is the same question on the catering. I was not very clear. You mentioned about a figure of 1,518 contracts. So that is the potential number of contracts that you have. And how many contracts have you already won or you're already present? If you can clarify that number?
Yeah. This number is already under short-term tenders.
The 1,518?
Yeah, yeah. These are short-term contracts being won. What I was telling is that a new catering policy has come for long-term tenders. At present, we are having a contract of maximum six months. The new catering policy prescribes a five-year plus two-year contract. And for that, we have decided to go in five phases and complete the tenders.
Okay. Got it. There's absolute clarity on it. So my question is, what will be the number of trains, given the existing inventory from Railways, where there is a potential for catering where you are not present? Are there any number of trains where there is a potential for catering and you are still not present?
Largely, we are present in one or other form. You see, one who is on the train, if he is hungry, he needs to be provided with the meals. That we manage in three ways. One is long-term contract. Another is short-term contract where there is a gap which will lead up to short-term contracts. Third is TSV, Train Side Vending. And there are certain trains which are not having any pantry car. So you will be interesting to know that e-catering is also there. Then we have food plazas all across the country besides the refreshment room. So there is no place where we are not going. The question is, if we put them for five to seven years in place of six months, it will certainly give us confidence in the market firstly, and there will be stability and revenue growth on our part.
Okay, but if you give it to them on a five-to-seven-year contract, in terms of pricing, will you have to give some concession compared to the short-term contract?
Madhuchanda, this is other way around.
Okay. Sorry. Can you come back again?
What I feel, it will be other way around.
Other way around. Okay. Got it. Got it.
The pricing is controlled by ministry, but the transitional fees, what they are expected to quote, if they have the surety of a longer-term contract, so their fixed cost, I believe, their fixed cost, they will be able to manage, and that's how they can share more profit with us.
Okay. Got it. Got it. And, sir, on an organic basis, what kind of growth should we expect in the catering revenue in the next two to three years?
Should I give the numbers or should I give you the general objective?
I mean, a number would be more than welcome. Whatever.
The number is, if I say, infinite. You see, we have two crores of people traveling on our system on Indian Railways every day. What we are providing here is around 18-20 lakhs of meals per day. So the number is huge, as much as I can take it.
Okay. I mean, sir, I have another question, which is a little kind of, if you can guide us with some number. So as of now, you sell about INR 46 crores, roughly, ballpark in that range, crores in your net tickets in a year. So given the plan for.
Just a moment. Just a moment. What's your question?
As of now, you sell about INR 46 crores in your net tickets, roughly. May not be the numbers.
Okay. Yeah.
Yeah. So given the Vande Bharat and other additional plans for introduction of new trains, etc., what kind of organic addition to this number can we expect?
You see, just now I told you that Indian Railways infrastructure is growing very fast. DFC has already come. It is creating a capacity enhancement in the Railways in a big way for the passenger trains. They are already investing a huge amount in CapEx, in building the infrastructure and bringing the rolling stock and all. So the question is, the question is not what is the growth. The question is how much we can capture. Economy is also growing, and what I believe, and we all believe, that the next 25 years is of India, so we are planning according to that.
Yeah. I mean, just asking for my curiosity, one simple number. One additional Vande Bharat train leads to what kind of annual capacity in terms of tickets?
On Vande Bharat, there are two kinds of Vande Bharat. There is one Vande Bharat which has the capacity of 543 people with eight coaches. And another one is around 1,000. So 1,100 and 540 depends upon the train is running with how many coaches.
Okay, so this 540.
One side. Because Vande Bharat goes in the morning, comes back in the evening. So if you multiply by two, so in a day, two round trips is taken. One round trip is taken means 1,100 into two. 2,200 passengers travel every day.
But then all Vande Bharats don't travel every day of the week also. So ballpark.
No, no, no, no. It runs for six days, not for seven days.
Okay. So ballpark, you mentioned, right, that there was 75 Vande Bharat announcements and 45 running. So with this 45 running, what is the additional ticketing capacity that you have?
That we can calculate any day. We have like 543 or 1,100 into 2 into 365. 300 days we can see it.
Okay. Got it. Got it. Got it.
What I'm trying to say is that you not only see on catering parts. You see the ticketing. You see the railway. You see even tourism.
Got it, sir. So that's the kind of.
Any addition of Vande Bharat has a multiplier effect on IRCTC and its services.
Got it. Got it. Absolutely, sir. Absolutely. Thank you very much. Thanks for answering all my questions.
Thank you, Madhu.
Thank you. And the next question is from the line of Rahul Jain from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. My line is audible.
Yes, sir.
So I just have a couple of questions. Firstly, on the Railway business, we have saw this exceptional charge. So it would be great if you could give some feedback that why there is this ambiguity of earlier having this 15% versus 40% now. And it's just a provision. When do we expect this to be conclusive for the future as well?
So should I start?
Yes, please.
You see, as I explained to you earlier, initially, Indian Railways and IRCTC both thought to run the Rail Neer plant on departmental basis. So there was a decision that in a departmental unit, Railways in charge 15%. But as the necessity was there, market was growing, and it was not possible to create the capacity to the expectation. So IRCTC was allowed to go on a PPP model. So that time, they could not visualize that should we take it as per the departmental procedure or through PPP model, which is available in all other like food plaza and all. So now it is a settled issue that any PPP will be treated as per the same norm. Norm was already existing. But it was a matter of interpretation earlier. Now it's very clear. And there is no ambiguity, and it's a conclusive thing now.
Right.
IRCTC is not losing anything. You see, we are earning, say, INR 100. We are giving 40 out of that. 60 is the net in short to us. That way, we are able to create additional capacity in a shorter period.
Right. But essentially, this charge never used to exist prior to FY22. But at the time of IPO, we already had this plan. So when this rate effectively got implemented?
You see, it is done at the ministry level. And what I'm saying is, if we had to expand, and there is already a norm of 40% on PPP project, so why IRCTC will not say, "I have a different quotation, brother." If we pay a 40% in place of 15%, if I'm able to grab the market, so at least in the absolute terms, we will be able to manage getting more revenue than what we are doing now.
No, I can understand your stance, sir. My simple question is, because all of these charges which are levied by Indian Railways at different point of time create the uncertainty in terms of what kind of revenue, what kind of profit would be retained in this listed entity. So is it safer to assume that all such changes which are relevant because we are significant beneficiaries from Indian Railways, and at the same time, we have a large opportunity to capture? Is it safer to assume all such necessary changes?
Can I?
Yes, please.
What I understood from your question, and it's an important question, but what I understood is that it would have been better for IRCTC to first clarify all this and then do the business. Whereas we thought the management wisdom was there, then let us start aggressively. And all these things, we are not giving anything from pocket. We are just sharing the profit which otherwise the norm is there. And these kinds of when we are a running contract, it's a business entity, and it's a shared business also, rather wasting time and fighting with Railways first and then decide and then grab the market, it would be always advisable that we should go for the market and side by side, we talk to them. And there is no absolutely, there is no uncertainty. It is a matter of interpretation. And that has been settled now.
Yes, I can understand that aspect. Just one incremental input I was just saying. Since you said that it is in best interest for us to look forward, is it safer to assume for all the businesses that we are doing today, whatever is the sharing arrangement today is something which can be sustainable, or you think at different point of time, something may come up which we can't predict at this point?
You see, if I answer your question like this, the life expectancy in India is 80 years, 79 years. It was previously 52 or 59 years. Now it is 79 years. So it doesn't mean that you will not fall sick. So you will take medicine and then move on so that you achieve that life expectancy. That's what I can say.
Sir, just to add to your point, the analogy, whatever business problem you would face from the market is equivalent to falling sick.
We have to go on, Rahul. We have to go on. We cannot quit on.
We just have to understand, is that business would be coming from our parent or it would be an external business?
You see, every parent gives his son or his ward or his descendant certain inherent diseases. But the son or the daughter, the descendants flourish, and if you see, the age is 52, so 79 was, so this demanding came back to 79 to puncture. We all have reached to that level, so there will be clarity when we are going together. We can't say in a very important manner that there will not be any problem, there will not be any interpretation issue. It all will remain there, but the main thing what I see as a management here is how we go and we go together to the satisfaction of the customer and to the investor that way.
Understood. That's very helpful in terms of getting the interpretation of this thing. Just last one aspect. We've been providing this UPI incentive to the user who do ticketing through the UPI mode. And there is a significant subsidization on that aspect. Is there any timeline that we have decided that how long we would offer this to our customer, or this is going to be a permanent thing?
See, this is UPI promotion of UPI is a government directive and as a citizen of India, as a responsible, when we are talking of environmental sustainability, we talk of everything so this is a dream project of India which is taking India to a different level. We can't be left behind so we have to promote it and we can find out many other ways and means to enhance our earning so what I feel is that we should not restrict ourselves in such a conservative type of thinking.
Right. But do we have any other presidents in India who have promoted this UPI incentive in such a big-hearted manner?
You see, somebody has to take the lead. If I am taking the initiative, you should be happy that the management here in IRCTC are rising to the occasion.
Sir, my only point is that it was well understood five years ago. But since that, 67% of all volumes in India now happens on UPI. It's fairly acceptable medium of payment. So do we need to promote it beyond this point as well?
What I see, time is a learning process. The time cycle may differ for two years, five years, 10 years. You see, 10 years before, we could not have thought that India would become the fifth largest economy. Now we are daring to reach the third largest economy in the 10 years itself. So what I feel is that time should not be like we should not be bound by the time to five years ago, two years ago, three years ago. We should progress. We should see how we can progress further, how can we add to our revenue, how we can add to our profit. And there are various means and ways to do so. You see, after giving this concession also, just now we told that we are happy to announce that this was the highest ever revenue in this quarter.
Understood. That's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. That's all.
Thank you. And the next question is from the line of Devang Bhatt from IDBI Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you, sir, for taking my question. Am I audible?
Yes .
Just a few bookkeeping questions. What is the current Rail Neer plant capacity and what is the utilization?
Its utilization is 75%, and the capacity is around 18 lakh. We are adding to its capacity by 72,000 Rail Neer plants. In fact, one of the plants is going to be inaugurated in the next few days, precisely, I think, tomorrow. Tomorrow. Another plant by July, so we are enhancing the capacity. Our utilization is 75%. There also, we are planning to enhance our capacity. And because you see, there are certain plants which are running at more than 100% capacity. There we are adding another add-on capacity, and we are coming with the new plants also, so that's why.
So, sir, how much your capacity will increase by FY25 and beyond?
1840 is like 18.4 lakh bottles per day.
So that is the current capacity, right?
No, no, no. Current is 16.96. I may be wrong in telling. Current is 16.96. We announced 18.4 as of now. But 25 is a long period for me. Let us see.
So 18.4 by FY25, by this year or by next?
As of date, there is a plan of by 2025, 18.4 lakhs of bottles per day. But what I feel, we are sitting here in January, February 2024. So we have time to think it again.
Right, and sir, in this quarter, what drove your tourism revenues? I mean, what was the key driver, and how many additions of stages are expected in the coming quarters?
You see, tourism, we have a very good product, Vande Bharat Train. So tourism business, let me explain it to you. We are basically tackling rail-based mass tourism. And Bharat Darshan Train, Bharat Gaurav Train, 11 such 10 plus 1 Bharat Gaurav Trains we are running. And secondly, interesting part is that recently only, we have an MOU with the Uttarakhand government, I think in the last week itself, where we have a contract with them for two years that we will promote their tourist places. And they are investing into the train, Bharat Gaurav Train, and we will be booking it, upsizing it. And we are talking to some other state government also, like Maharashtra also, because it is in a national state, I should not talk about the state, but we can just say that these are the two projects.
One is an MOU with the state government to tackle mass tourism and promoting their state tourism and Bharat Gaurav Train.
So this MOU with.
Future is still two years.
Okay, sir, and this MOU with Uttarakhand, what kind of revenues it will generate for you?
Sir, one minute, come to Mumbai, be there. It will generate good revenue.
Okay, sir. And, sir, in Tejas, what kind of additions are you seeing? Are there any?
It's not a concept of revenue, my dear. What I see is that if we are opening something, so there are many such states out there which want to promote their tourism. So if I say that, if I take like if you say that in the next three years, we are having an MOU with, say, 10 or 12 state governments, so it will generate huge revenue. So I see the potential. I'm not calculating the absolute terms.
Right, sir. Right. Right, and thank you, sir. Thank you for taking my question.
Thank you, Devang.
Thank you. That was the last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to management for closing comments.
Thanks. After this quarter three years, which is one of the highest timing for the nine months and three months this quarter. And especially talking to the investor gives us confidence, and whatever your suggestions, we take it forward. It's your company, and we look forward to that in the next quarter. We do much better with your best wishes. Thank you. Thank you very much.
On behalf of Dolat Capital, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.
Thank you. Okay. Bye.