Analyst Concall
IRCTC expects RBI nod for payments arm by January
This story was originally published at 18:54 IST on 13 November 2025
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--IRCTC: Hope to get RBI approval for IRCTC Payments Ltd by Jan
--IRCTC: Hope to restart Bilaspur unit with 72,000 water bottle capacity soon
--IRCTC: Looking to set up another 4 water bottle mfg plant soon
--CONTEXT: Comments by IRCTC mgmt in post-earnings analyst call
--IRCTC: Likely to touch highest ever booking for Maharaja Express in FY26
By Pallavi Singhal and Avishek Rakshit
MUMBAI/KOLKATA – Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp. Ltd. expects to secure final approval from the Reserve Bank of India for its wholly-owned subsidiary IRCTC Payments Ltd. by January, a top company official said in a post-earnings analyst call Thursday.
The company had earlier received in-principle approval from the RBI to operate as an online payment aggregator and was granted six months to submit the necessary documents. In its previous quarterly update, IRCTC had said that it would take 12–18 months to obtain the final licence and begin operations.
Once operational, IRCTC Payments will help the company to manage online transactions directly, offering multiple payments options on a single platform for rail and other services. RBI approval is mandatory for the third-party payment aggregators to commence operations under current regulations.
IRCTC is preparing to restart operations at its Bilaspur Rail Neer plant, which has an installed capacity of 72,000 bottles per day, after resolving state-level issues that had halted production. In addition, the company plans to set up four new water bottling plants across India to expand its packaged drinking water footprint, according to the management. The capacities of its existing units at Danapur in Bihar and Ambernath in Maharashtra are also being enhanced to 300,000 bottles per day each. At present, the Danapur plant produces around 100,000 bottles daily while the Ambernath unit manufactures over 150,000 bottles a day, the management said.
In its tourism vertical, IRCTC said it expects to achieve its highest-ever bookings for the Maharajas' Express luxury train in 2025–26 (Apr–Mar), driven by strong demand and advance reservations. The Maharajas' Express, operated by IRCTC, is renowned for offering opulent journeys that showcase India's rich cultural heritage.
On the catering side, IRCTC is currently providing mobile catering services on 1,318 trains, including 15 Amrit Bharat trains. "At the moment, none of the Amrit Bharat trains are running on the prepaid model," the management said, adding that "the policy is out" and the company is "putting systems in place to take up this work."
In its internet ticketing business, 135.5 million tickets were booked during the quarter, with UPI payments accounting for nearly 50% of all transactions. Of the total, 67.5 million were AC tickets, while 68 million were non-AC bookings.
The company is also advancing its unified travel portal initiative, which aims to integrate various tourism and rail offerings into a single platform. The portal will leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to enhance the overall user experience, the management said.
IRCTC's management reiterated that growth across segments--ticketing, catering, tourism, and packaged water--reflects its diversified business model and operational discipline, saying, "We believe in increasing our volume...all our products are designed to gain from the volume and not from a hike in price."
On Thursday, shares of IRCTC closed nearly 1% lower at INR 709.90 on the National Stock Exchange. End
Edited by Subhojit Sarkar
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