IRCTC makes changes in B2C policy of e-ticketing

IRCTC said that it has rationalised the integration fee and AMC structure to make it more practical in terms of usage by Online Travel Agents.

New Delhi: Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has made some changes in B2C (Business to Customer) policy of its e-ticketing in a bid to reduce excessive load on its website and to rationalize Annual Maintenance Charges (AMC).

The Indian Railways' ticketing arm however said that the move will have no impact on pricing of tickets to public through B2C service providers as they are authorized to charge Rs 20 per ticket for 2nd Class/ Sleeper Class and Rs 40 for AC Classes.

“These Policy changes will inter-alia control the excessive enquiry load being thrown by B2C business partners/OTAs (Online Travel Agents) on IRCTC E- ticketing website,” IRCTC said in a release.

IRCTC further said that it has rationalised the integration fee and AMC structure to make it more practical in terms of usage by Online Travel Agents.

“Few OTAs and B2C service providers are making very large number of tickets while others are very low on ticketing but their enquiry load is more. Integration and AMC charges have been reduced also on some fronts to promote Start Ups who are doing good services on technology front and can provide high tech and more user friendly services to B2C users,” it said.

B2C service providers have long been demanding permission for advertising and cross selling of other travel need related products to users on IRCTC portal to generate additional revenue from such e-commerce activities. IRCTC believes that the policy changes and will help them to market travel and tourism related products.

Users however can directly book their tickets through IRCTC website without paying any service charge, it said.