Railways wants to charge licence fee from IRCTC, travel agents

[related-post]

Watch Video: What’s making news

The idea, a brainchild of junior Rail Minister Manoj Sinha, suggests that the charge be 1 per cent of the annual turnover clocked by IRCTC and travel agents. IRCTC, a subsidiary of the Indian Railways, recorded a turnover of Rs 1,500 crore in 2015-16, up from Rs 1,140 crore a year earlier.

“This (fee) would also prevent misuse of the Indian Railways name and logo by travel agents. A logo at our appointed agent would provide assurance to travellers that they are not being overcharged or swindled,” said a Rail Ministry official.

Co-branded services such as Palace on Wheels, Golden Chariot, Tiger Express and Maharajas’ Express, which are run by other tourist organisations using the infrastructure and personnel of the Indian Railways, would also have to cough up 0.1 per cent of their turnover to the Railways each year.

“There would also be a licence fee on joint ventures and public-private partnerships that would ride on the trust and confidence created by Indian Railways,” he said. The annual fee in such cases would be 0.1 per cent of the paid up capital of the joint venture.

As many as 16 state governments have signed or plan to sign an MoU for setting up joint ventures for development of rail infrastructure in their state. The JV, a 51:49 per cent partnership between the state and the Indian Railways, will identify projects for development and mobilisation of financial resources for their execution.

It also proposes to charge 0.1 per cent of the total value of transactions on credit cards issued by the IRCTC in collaboration with the State Bank of India. Launched in February 2006, the ‘Subh Yatra’ card offers online ticket booking at zero transaction charge, doorstep delivery of tickets, redemption of points, personal accident insurance and complementary access to all platforms.