Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd
NSE:IRCTC
| US |
|
Johnson & Johnson
NYSE:JNJ
|
Pharmaceuticals
|
| US |
|
Estee Lauder Companies Inc
NYSE:EL
|
Consumer products
|
| US |
|
Exxon Mobil Corp
NYSE:XOM
|
Energy
|
| US |
|
Church & Dwight Co Inc
NYSE:CHD
|
Consumer products
|
| US |
|
Pfizer Inc
NYSE:PFE
|
Pharmaceuticals
|
| US |
|
American Express Co
NYSE:AXP
|
Financial Services
|
| US |
|
Nike Inc
NYSE:NKE
|
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods
|
| US |
|
Visa Inc
NYSE:V
|
Technology
|
| CN |
|
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd
NYSE:BABA
|
Retail
|
| US |
|
3M Co
NYSE:MMM
|
Industrial Conglomerates
|
| US |
|
JPMorgan Chase & Co
NYSE:JPM
|
Banking
|
| US |
|
Coca-Cola Co
NYSE:KO
|
Beverages
|
| US |
|
Target Corp
NYSE:TGT
|
Retail
|
| US |
|
Walt Disney Co
NYSE:DIS
|
Media
|
| US |
|
Mueller Industries Inc
NYSE:MLI
|
Machinery
|
| US |
|
PayPal Holdings Inc
NASDAQ:PYPL
|
Technology
|
If you don’t study any companies, you have the same success buying stocks as you do in a poker game if you bet without looking at your cards.
Utilize notes to systematically review your investment decisions. By reflecting on past outcomes, you can discern effective strategies and identify those that underperformed. This continuous feedback loop enables you to adapt and refine your approach, optimizing for future success.
Each note serves as a learning point, offering insights into your decision-making processes. Over time, you'll accumulate a personalized database of knowledge, enhancing your ability to make informed decisions quickly and effectively.
With a comprehensive record of your investment history at your fingertips, you can compare current opportunities against past experiences. This not only bolsters your confidence but also ensures that each decision is grounded in a well-documented rationale.
Do you really want to delete this note?
This action cannot be undone.
| 52 Week Range |
674.86
1 126
|
| Price Target |
|
We'll email you a reminder when the closing price reaches INR.
Choose the stock you wish to monitor with a price alert.
|
|
Johnson & Johnson
NYSE:JNJ
|
US |
|
|
Estee Lauder Companies Inc
NYSE:EL
|
US |
|
|
Exxon Mobil Corp
NYSE:XOM
|
US |
|
|
Church & Dwight Co Inc
NYSE:CHD
|
US |
|
|
Pfizer Inc
NYSE:PFE
|
US |
|
|
American Express Co
NYSE:AXP
|
US |
|
|
Nike Inc
NYSE:NKE
|
US |
|
|
Visa Inc
NYSE:V
|
US |
|
|
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd
NYSE:BABA
|
CN |
|
|
3M Co
NYSE:MMM
|
US |
|
|
JPMorgan Chase & Co
NYSE:JPM
|
US |
|
|
Coca-Cola Co
NYSE:KO
|
US |
|
|
Target Corp
NYSE:TGT
|
US |
|
|
Walt Disney Co
NYSE:DIS
|
US |
|
|
Mueller Industries Inc
NYSE:MLI
|
US |
|
|
PayPal Holdings Inc
NASDAQ:PYPL
|
US |
This alert will be permanently deleted.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd
You don't have any saved screeners yet
Good afternoon, everyone. On behalf of Dolat Capital, we welcome you all to the Q1 FY '24 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 Finance and CFO of the company. And also, we have today with us Dr. Lokiah Ravikumar, who is Director of Catering Services; and Mr. K. Mishraji, who is Director for the Tourism and Marketing segment. And 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 '24. As you are aware, IRCTC has already announced the unaudited financial results for the first quarter yesterday, and the same have also been disclosed on both the stock exchanges.
I would now be giving a brief overview of Q1 FY '24, which will be followed up by the detailed performance of our business segments by Director Finance and CFO. After that, we will be having question-and-answer session.
Q1 FY '24 has been a landmark year for the IRCTC with the revenues crossing the INR 1,000 crores 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 '24 revenue was at INR 1,002 crores, implying a growth of 3.8% Q-on-Q and 17.5% Y-on-Y. The largest segment, Catering has been the main driver for this Q-o-Q 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% Y-on-Y and 12.1% quarter-on-quarter.
The consolidated level, despite the loss in Tourism segment due to a onetime adjustment of exceptional item of INR 51.9 crores towards provisioning of revised haulage charges as mandated by the Ministry of Railways for the major strain 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 crores for the provision of previous haulage charges, tourism segment has also registered a profit. Absolute EBITDA has also hit a new high at INR 343 crores. Net profit before exceptional items for quarter 1 came at INR 284 crores as compared to INR 253 crores in quarter 4 of FY '23 and INR 246 crores in quarter 1 of FY '23.
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, our Director Finance and CFO; Sri Ajit Kumar, to brief you on the financial and segmental performance of the company. Thank you.
Good afternoon, everybody, and I hope you and your dear ones are in good health. I shall first give a brief overview about Q4 FY '23 results, post which you shall have the question-and-answer session. Q1 FY '24 revenue saw another quarter of good growth, both on quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year basis. Revenue of INR 1,002 crores that we have marked the four figure, INR 1,000 crores, 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 crores versus INR 253 crores in Q4 FY '23 and INR 245 crores in Q1 FY '23. 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 strong revenue growth of 20.5% quarter-over-quarter and 35.5% year-over-year to INR 477 crores 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 tourist tickets back to unreserved tickets [indiscernible] during the pre-pandemic period. The revenue for the quarter was at INR 290 crores, 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, specially in [indiscernible] with revenue for the quarter at INR 142.5 crores, implying a decline of 30.2% quarter-over-quarter, though, Tourism -- overall segment listed 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 onetime adjustment of one exceptional item of INR 51.9 crores towards provisioning of revised haulage charges of the previous years for the Tourist Train as has been mandated by the Ministry of Railways. Rail Neer saw Q1 FY '24 revenue of INR 92.2 crores, 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 EBITDA in current quarter, that is Q1 also, due to allocation of income because a reversal in provision of [ PRP ] done in the last quarter. Now for Q1 FY '24, the CapEx was INR 101 crores. The net worth and cash back balances of the company at the end of the quarter is INR 2,709 crores and INR 1,912 crores, respectively.
That brings to the end of the opening remarks. Now we can straightaway move to the question-and-answer session. Thank you.
[Operator Instructions] First question is from Jinesh Joshi.
Two questions from my side. First is that, to what extent there has been a revision in the custody charges for Tejas Express and on what grounds are we seeking a waiver from railways for earlier years?
Okay. 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 '23. What happens is haulage indexation is notified by the ministry every year. But for these 2 years, they have issued a surplus revision in haulage charges from the August '21, this letter was given to us only in the year '23. So we are not seeking any waiver. We have requested Ministry to reconsider so that these revised charges should be made applicable only from the future date not from the retrospective effect. We have made a representation, and we are pursuing it with the Ministry of Tejas.
Sure. But 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.
Amount is already informed. It is INR 51.9 crores for the period 13 August '21 to 31st March '23. This is the total amount which has come to us as a liability, but detailing -- details of how these charges are calculated will be mailed to you. Thank you, Joshi.
Sure. And secondly, if I look at this announcement with respect to this INR 78 crores of investment for procurement of hardware and software, is this a part of an 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 [ exit ] system, and we had projected this expenditure in this year as CapEx.
Sure. Just one last question. I think after a reversal in Tourist setting, the monthly average non-suburban traffic used to hover in the band of about INR 6 crores odd per month. But if I look at the July month figure, which is available on the website of Indian Railway, the number has increased to about INR 7 crores odd. So 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 '22, right? And implementation took some time because of data bookings. And it was implemented from the middle of the June -- July '22, right? So in this quarter, April to June, which is under consideration, my Tourist reversal has -- Internet ticket of Tourist was INR 11.56 crores in last year's first quarter, and this quarter is INR 10.41 crores. That is -- Internet ticket has gone down by -- substantially for my system. But thankfully, [Foreign Language] 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 e-ticketing has increased. Last year, it was [ 79.64 ], And this year, it is [ 80.86 ]. So whatever pie is available to me for reservation, this is increasing.
Or you can seek whatever clarification on this through the mail, we'll provide you all the details.
Next questions come from the line of [ Moksha Shah ].
So my question was on Catering business. Catering and Rail Neer business, especially Catering, the share for the overall revenue has increased. It was 41% and now that increased to 47%. So you think how is this [indiscernible]? Is there any specific reason? And how do you expect this to go -- going forward, do you expect it to remain high as a percentage of [indiscernible]?
Yes. [ Misha ], this -- I would give you the reason why it has gone -- why it is seeing the upward trend. See pre-COVID, we had Catering in 891 trains. I'm talking about 2019 pre-COVID scenario. Now at present, post-COVID, I'm talking as on, say, end of July, we have provided Catering contracts in 1,209 trains. So we are providing more and more trains and around 200 more contracts are in pipeline. This is the reason. And for further growth, we are working on the assessment of sale, which is mandated by the ministry. That would also give us a further flip in this Catering earnings for IRCTC.
So with this, we expect it to go -- increase?
Yes. Yes.
Also, if you could provide me the number of daily average ticket for this quarter, like quarter 1 FY '24, how was this in comparison to the last year same quarter?
You're seeking for this detail for the Reserve segment?
Yes.
Okay. Just give me a moment, I'll provide this detail. This is -- total tickets you are seeking for this year?
Not the total tickets, it's higher -- the daily average tickets.
This comes to around INR 18 crores per month for this quarter.
Per month?
Per month average, I'm telling you per month. For this quarter to be -- this thing for total is INR 54.70 crores to be precise. So average is around INR 18 crores. And in the last quarter, it was -- Misha just give me a second. I would like to reconfirm the figures before I give you anything wrong.
Okay. So I stand corrected. Tickets, if you see, total ticket is INR 3.37 crores in the month of April. INR 3.56 crores in the month of May, and INR 3.49 crores in the month of June. This is a total -- this thing of total tickets booked by IRCTC.
Next, I'll take a question from the chat window, which is that into [indiscernible] gross contribution.
Please come again, please.
Yes, 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?
Yes. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, this Tourism segment has taken a hit because of -- around INR 52 crores, to be precise, INR 51.9 crores exceptional items 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 '24, convenience fee is INR 198 crores. And any further information is required, I've told you about number of tickets as well as convenience fee.
Yes. So the other part of the question is, what is the breakup of other segment within the ticketing -- Internet ticketing segment other than the convenience fee.
Yes, I can, see, convenience fee is INR 198.48 crores. Then my service charges stand at INR 0.13 crores, service charges other than the I-Ticket is INR 19.48 crores. Then my agent commission received is INR 17.74 crores.
License fee earned from the call center is INR 106 crores. Integrated INR 139 and Rail Madad is INR 2.05 crores, Agent log in authentication, INR 1.97 crores, inquiry charges are INR 0.8 crores and chatbot charges are INR 0.32 crores. If we total everything in the Internet Ticketing, this comes to INR 290 crores.
The next question is from Rohit. He has couple of questions. The first question is, why the margin in the Ticketing segment has gone down sharply?
Yes, 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 '22 and it was implemented to July. So whatever you 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.
But this effect, it will last only till the, say, middle of July. Now onwards, we will be at par with Q2 of 2022.
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 on July 31, we are providing Catering services in 1,209 trains, as compared to pre-COVID 891 trains. And since this tariff is fixed by Ministry of Railways, right now, we are providing Catering with the same charges, which were notified by the Ministry of Railways in 2019.
Another question from the chat is, can you explain about what is the revenue breakup from owned plant versus PPP model in the Rail Neel segment?
Yes, sure. The total we have 16 plants out of which 4 are my department-owned and 12 are PPP model. And in the pipeline, we have 4 more, which would be commissioning very soon, 3 in this year and 1 PPP plant next year, it will go into FY '24, '25.
Now 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 lump sum 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. But in the Rail Neer in this quarter, we have earned INR 90.54 crores from the sale of the Rail Neer and INR 1.61 crores as license fee. So total, my revenues from this Rail Neer segment for the quarter under consideration is INR 92.15 crores.
Right. The follow-up question on this is, what is the total number of -- what is the capacity at this point? And what is the utilization? And any upcoming plant later in this year?
As I said, total 16 plants are operational today, with a capacity of 15,52,000 liters per day. And there are in pipeline 4 more plants, which are -- 3 of which are expected this year. And another one will go in the next financial year, with the total capacity with these 4 plants will become 18,40,000 liters per day.
And there's another question from participant who wishes to understand when -- 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've already advertised some of the itineraries, and we are in touch with them, and we hope to do a good business on this model.
Next, we will take question from the participant who are online. [Operator Instructions] The next question comes from the line of [ Dipesh Lakhani ].
So I just wanted an update on the payment aggregator license and also iPay revenues in this quarter.
Yes. Give me a second. I'll just give it to you. On the iPay platform, number of payment transactions handled during this quarter is INR 1.54 crores. It has increased by 12.94% because if we -- and 36% increase over the previous year.
Okay. And update on the payment aggregator license?
We're in the process of getting this license from RBI and as recommended by RBI, we are in the process of forming a subsidiary for this iPay license.
Okay, okay. So also revenues for the Tejas trains and 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. There are 2 Tejas. There is 1 LJN New Delhi Tejas. For this quarter, the occupancy has been 72.8%. And for Ahmedabad MMCT Tejas, the occupancy has been 89.2%. And if we see revenue combined together for those -- these 2 trains is INR 45.89 crores.
Next, we take a question from Devang from IDBI Capital.
So 2 questions. One is that what led to the increase in Catering margins this quarter? What were the key drivers? And second one is what could be the trajectory of Tourism margins considering that now revised haulage 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 increased my Catering margins. 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 my biggest market now. In addition to this, I also run State Teertha special. So 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. So I'm confident that we'll do much better in Tourism segment in the coming quarters.
So would we be seeing similar margins which we saw for FY '23 overall in Tourism considering the ups and downs?
Yes, we can -- we are hopeful that we'll be able to meet this.
Are you done with your questions?
Yes.
The next question is from the line of Rohit [ Jain ]. Rohit, you may mute your line and ask your question, please. Rohit, you are on mute. Can you please unmute yourself and ask your question?
Can you hear me?
Yes. You are audible now.
My question was on the catering side. So you mentioned 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 6 months, how much can that increase by?
See total mail express train as on date on Indian railways are around 2,000-odd pairs, and as a pair, it is one coming and going. We have around 2,000 pairs of trains on Indian railways, out of which the trains having pantry car or having a run of more than 8 hours, we are looking for the providing catering services. That number comes around 1,500-odd pairs. So 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 Industry with effect as in the 2019. So we are looking for a good trajectory in the catering business.
Right. So as you said, we are already at 1,200 and potential currently as it stands, is about 1,500 trains. So 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. We are also in the -- like Indian Railway is always announcing new trains. You know the [indiscernible] project is going on. And then we did our visa program of Indian Ministry of Railways to announce new trains, announce new services, increase the frequency of trains, extensions, election specials, we have a lot of scope to do the catering business.
Fair enough. And my second question, which, again, somebody asked but was not here, was given the recent increase in vegetable prices, especially tomatoes 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, I can say that licensee is committed as per contract to provide the catering services on the tariff issued by the Minister of Railway in 2019. That is a contract condition, and he is bound to give me this. So as far as my revenues are concerned, they are absolutely protected.
So basically, you're 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. I'm not saying that. I'm saying whenever we -- when the contract was signed between IRCTC and licensee, he was aware what services and what costs have to be given. So we are continuing with the services with the same tariff as notified by the Ministry of Railways.
Understood. And 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 low to mid-single digit at best. So -- and the number of trains added in the country also is pretty low as in comparison to the stock of the train that is already there. So 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?
We are working -- we are expecting rather shift in more number of people on in e-ticketing. Because right now, we stand at, say, 80.86% have booked through e-ticketing. So with our efficient services, upgradation of our systems more -- we are hoping that we -- 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, is there a level at which you think the e-ticketing sort of maxes out in the near term?
So if you see with the IRCTC app, we are having -- see with IRCTC app being so popular, I'm 100% sure that people are -- and this with government's 5G penetration and streaming of Internet facility right up to the village level, we are hopeful that more number of people will shift to the e-ticketing and also with new trains being announced with the extension of services, increase in frequency of trains, number of people will increase on Indian railways.
Fair enough. And just last question from my side. Is there any discussion on any revision as far as the Rail Neer prices are concerned or 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. So Rail Neer, we have written, and we would be pursuing it with the Ministry of Railways.
But no communication from their side as yet?
So this is in the pipeline. We have only made a reference. Now we'll be pursuing it. I cannot give any kind of a commitment on behalf of Ministry here.
Thank you. At this point, I'll take a couple of 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 Y-o-Y basis.
I would request the question to be further clarified so that I can give the relevant answer.
So 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 crores to INR 91 crores, 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 crores in the Q1 of last year, now it has become INR 3.93 crore transaction. So what happens with this hike of transactions, my UPI transaction has a reduced convenience fee from INR 15 and 30, it goes down to INR 10 and 15 for sleeper and AC correspondingly. So number of transactions are increasing on UPI platform, and my responding convenience pay is little going down. And even there's a slight hit in the agent business, because if we see FY '23, it was INR 37 crores. And in this quarter is INR 32.39 crores.
This next question is from [ Namanjan ]. He's asking what is the mix of tickets sold in terms of 2S, SL class and different classes?
For 2S tickets April to June last year, system tickets on the counters were INR 2.94 crores, Internet ticket were INR 11.56 crores. So total tickets for 2S were INR 14.5 crores. And for this year, April to June, on the counter is INR 2.46 crores, Internet tickets at INR 10.41 crores. So total ticket for 2S is INR 12.8 crores. So number of tickets, totality for 2S has gone down. This is for 2S ticket.
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 we see this is a 484 lakh tickets for the AC segment. And for non-AC segment, it is 558 lakh for this quarter.
And lastly, what is the -- 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 crores -- sorry, 404 lakhs and for non-AC it was 754 lakhs.
Okay. This question is -- last part of the question is what is the UPI share in terms of ticketing?
So UPI, as I just mentioned in the previous question, it has increased the overall share. See UPI transaction has -- were last year INR 3.84 crores, it has increased to INR 3.90 crores. So it is a share is 35.3% last year. And this year, it is 37%.
Thank you. At this point, we'll take questions from the participants live on the platform. Next question comes from the line of Rahul.
I have two questions: First is any thought process by IRCTC for selling of its consumer data as it can generate additional revenue for IRCTC in the digital world. And second is, any future proposals of including even Pride ticket booking business to IRCTC from Indian railway because the Pride business is also rapidly expanding in the country.
Now we see this data, which is on our e-ticketing platform is of passengers of Indian Railways. So IRCTC is not right now planning the monetization of this data because this data is of the passengers of Indian Railways. And as far as air ticketing is concerned, we have another segment where we deal with the air ticking segment in tourism sector. Number of air ticket books in this quarter are 4.77 lakh and the last quarter, last year, Q1 was 4.5 lakh. So you see this growth of 5% if we see Q1 as compared to the Q1 of last year. And if I see Q4 of '22, '23, it is a growth of 3.66%. These are the air tickets being booked by the -- on IRCTC platform.
Yes. Apart from the air tickets, I would also want to know what about the rail price, which is currently done only by Indian Railway. Any future proposals where we can also book Pride bookings -- rail bookings from IRCTC.
Could you please clarify what kind of booking Indian Railways are doing?
Right now, the current -- freight is the transportation of goods.
Okay. The freight you mean to say the goods traffic?
Exactly.
That is another application, which is hosted in the [indiscernible] and it is Ministry is doing directly through the site operation information system. IRCTC, as of now, has no adjusting mandated [indiscernible] -- companies that are mandated versus catering, tourism and adjusting for Indian railways and e-ticketing.
Okay. Just wondered if we can add that also business in the future, which can be remediated for IRCTC?
Only if the ministry decides.
Are you done with your questions?
Yes.
Thank you. Next, I'll take a question from the chat window. The question is ma'am comparatively from Q1 of FY '22. Revenues 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, there's a profit. Only thing is this exceptional item, which is INR 52 crores, 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.
The next question is regarding what are the prospects of an Vande Bharat train once all this state program goes, what is the increase in the Internet ticketing potential of the business?
See, Vande Bharat is also one kind of train which is available in the reserve segment of ticketing. So this inventory gets added to already available inventory for the ticketing. So -- and 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. So this will add to my prospects of e-ticketing doing better. And this would also give us the additional opportunity for catering services when the new trains are added as well as Rail Neer. So my e-ticketing, catering, Rail Neer, the entire segment will see a boost as and when these Vande Bharats are being added by the Ministry of Railways.
The next question is related to this Data protection bill has been passed, it will become law sooner. Now IRCTC's 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 passengers of Indian Railways and IRCTC is fully committed to follow whatever the app is passed by the government of India.
Okay. Next question is, are we looking to bid -- this is from [ Ukash Maheshwari ]. Are we looking to bid for Vande Bharat like that of Tejas tourism business?
No. 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. So this will -- we would be doing the ticketing, catering and Rail Neer services only in these Vande Bharat trains as things stand 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?
So this is going on, and we would be finishing -- we are doing it on priority and maybe it will take a 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 [ MS Vinod ]. The question is, ma'am, what about the RSG train, any revenue and profit breakup, you can share about it?
Save for one particular segment, I would be taking out the details and my CIO will be sharing it with the person asking the question on mail. But right now, whatever details I have broadly I can share with you.
See, I can tell you the turnover, right? turnover this quarter was INR 246 crores for RSG trains. And as compared to Q1 of last year, this was INR 201 crores. This is a turnover of RSG trains. Other details we can give you on the mail.
[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from the line of Dipesh.
Yes. So as you mentioned earlier in this call that four new plans are in the pipeline. So does it include Vijaywada and Bhubaneshwar plans, which you mentioned in the previous call -- like the management mentioned in the previous call?
Yes. These four upcoming plants are Bhubaneshwar, [indiscernible], NTPC Simhadri and Vijaywada.
Okay. So like when it is going to be operational?
See, we are looking for these Bhubaneshwar, [indiscernible] and NTPC Simhadri to be commissioned in this calendar year and towards the end of this calendar year. And Vijaywada will go into the Q1 of the next year, next financial year.
Okay. So all these are PPP model?
Yes. All these are PPP model.
The next question from the chat window is related to what are the prospects we see in the tourism segment, and overall, what are the potential from various segments since all this pricing-related normalization has happened, what are the next few growth triggers?
See, as I advised and informed in the previous question, IRCTC has taken 10 rakes from Indian Railways for running [indiscernible] under the policy of Bharat Gaurav policy. So 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 healthy growth in the tourism sector.
And what could be the growth trigger in other segments other than tourism segment?
See, we have already distinct -- as per the announcement of Minister of Railways, around 475 Vande Bharat trains are going to be added in the next three years. So if these 475 Vande Bharat trains are added in the fleet of Indian railways, IRCTC is a natural distinct to provide catering services, e-ticketing, Rail Neer. So these are the impetus we are looking for our business of IRCTC.
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 and the last revision was done in 2017. So next revision is due only in 2027.
Next question is from the platform. The question is from the line of Rattan.
I have a question that our e-ticketing revenues have been flat over the last 15 months. So my question is there has been high inflation over the last couple of years. When are we likely to raise convenience fee?
See, raising the convenience fee is not within the purview of IRCTC's business because that is decided by the Ministry of Railways. But as far as -- right now, we are not considering any revision in the -- I stand corrected. My team is telling me. Now as of now, IRCTC is not looking for the revision of the convenience fee. But as far as e-ticketing business is concerned, we are seeing a plateau because a lot of infra growth is done by Indian Railways. As you are aware, Indian Railways are adding new tracks, so much of infra -- INR 24,000 crores have been given for new infra growth in Indian Railways. So these things are being done on priority, you have a lot of [ NIs ] going on. So this temporary -- and DFCCIL works are under completion, [indiscernible] is going on. So a little bit of -- I must say these diversions are a little bit of discontinuity and what you're seeing in plateau with DFC coming out, a number of freight trains rolling on the DFC, we will have [ nine ] capacity to win the passenger trains and which will ultimately result into more passengers traveling on Indian Railways and leading to increased share of e-ticketing.
Yes, 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. So there is no basis for increasing further this convenience fee and putting on to the Indian Railways passenger burden.
All right. And 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 for Vande Bharat how it comes through because train via e-ticket profiling needs to be done, and we will be sharing it soon with you.
Thank you. This was the last question for the session today. I would now request IRCTC management to give their final remarks.
Thanks for this opportunity to us also because we keep on wanting to learn that what is the -- I mean, expectation from your side and as investors and on the behalf of investors what you really say. So we try that within the considered lines to follow it and take the company to better heights and if there any other question, I mean [indiscernible] more specific data. So everything we have, we have [indiscernible]. So [indiscernible] share that and we will send it to you. Thank you very much.