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People prefer to buy tickets online
By siliconindia
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Tuesday, 17 June 2008, 01:07 IST
New Delhi: On June 9 this year, the number of tickets booked online stood at an all-time high of 110,233, almost 14 percent of the total 800,000 berths the railways have across various classes, including chair cars and sleepers. The number is only expected to grow further as people increasingly opt out of the serpentine queues at railway reservation centers and choose to book tickets online, reported Business Standard.
To put the growth in perspective, only 220 tickets were sold across the country when the Indian Railways started selling tickets through a dedicated website in 2002, a negligible percentage of daily sales.
In the seven years since its inception, the railways' e-ticketing initiative has witnessed spectacular growth, accounting for 30 percent of all e-commerce transactions in the country in 2007-08, claim officials.
In 2002-03, a total of around 199,000 tickets were issued. Cut to the present. In the month of April 2008 alone, as many as 2.07 million tickets were sold. In May, this number climbed further to 2.49 million.
Officials of the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Railways that manages the online booking platform, www.irctc.co.in, say the number will go up even further.
"Going by the trends, we expect over 100 percent growth in online ticket booking this year," said an official, who declined to be identified.
The data throw up some interesting details as well. On an average, two passengers travel on each ticket. In 2002-03, around 417,000 passengers traveled on nearly 199,000 tickets. In 2007-08, around 35.2 million passengers traveled on nearly 18.9 million tickets. A maximum of six passengers can travel on a single ticket.
Now take a look at the financials. In 2002-03, e-ticketing earned the railways Rs 27.16 crore, around 4 percent of the total earnings from reserved tickets sold that year. In 2007-08, this number rose to Rs 1,744.68 crore, or 14 percent of the total earnings from reserved tickets sold to passengers.
