Central govt discovers diamond mine in IRTC

If the buzz in the political circles and stock exchange brokers are to be believed, the government is actively considering the idea of foraying Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to the stock exchange.

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The Public Sector entity as they say may be valued around $5 billion now, with technology and other investments, could easily be worth $10 billion in five years. Economic Experts say IRCTC is an untapped diamond mine for the government which would be even worth more than Flipkart going further.

IRCTC is the biggest online ticketing agent for the Indian Railways. The website makes Rs 10-20 on every ticket sold from its website. In 2013-14, it sold more than Rs 15,000 crore worth of tickets, earned revenues of Rs 955 crore, and net profits of Rs 72 crore. More than the ticket sales, the hot customer data it owns can be mined to sell even more products and services which makes it even more valuable.