New Delhi: Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated the following policy initiatives viz., Policy Initiatives of Increasing Non Fare Revenue like Out of Home Advertisement, Content on demand, Branding of Trains, Non-fare Revenue Policy, ATM Policy and Initiatives promoting ease of ticketing through digital transactions (for reserved as well as unreserved passengers) here today. He also released a documentary film on Jammu Kashmir Railway Network.
Minister of State for Railways Shri Rajen Gohain was especially present on the occasion. Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A. K. Mital, Member Traffic, Railway Board Mohd. Jamshed, CMD, IRCTC Shri AK Manocha, other Railway Board Members and senior officials were also present on the occasion at Rail Bhawan.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister of Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu said that various steps are being taken towards promoting digital transactions. He also said that new innovative ideas are brainstormed for increasing the non fare revenues of Indian Railways and many policy initiatives in Non Fare Revenue have now been taken.
Minister of State Shri Rajen Gohain said that Non Fare Revenue efforts of Indian Railways will bring in enough revenue. The cashless transaction initiatives will bring in more efficiency.
INITIATIVES TO INCREASE NON-FARE REVENUE
In pursuant of the Budget announcement, for increasing the Non Fare Revenue, Ministry of Railways has announced new policies on various initiatives within the Non-Fare Revenue space. These policies will look into different areas ranging from advertising in trains and other areas such as bridges and other assets, setting up of ATMs at platforms to digital content for passengers.
Salient Features of the Policies:
The policies are based on feedback from the key players in the industry. Some of the key inputs considered in the policies are:
Key Policies:
1. Non-Fare Revenue Policy:
2. Out of Home Advertising Policy:
3. Train Branding Policy:
4. Content on Demand and Rail Radio Policy:
5. ATMs Policy:
INITIATIVES TO PROMOTE EASE OF TICKETING THROUGH DIGITAL TRANSACTION
Indian Railways carries about 22.3 million passengers every day segmented in reserved and unreserved (non-suburban and suburban) accommodation on trains. Daily revenue from Passenger segment is about Rs.130 crore of which Rs.80 crore is from reserved segment, Rs.42 crore from non-suburban segment and Rs.8 crore from suburban segment.
The percentage of cashless earning during the period April to November 2016 was 58% in the reserved segment, 7% in non-suburban and 4% in sub-urban. In order to promote cashless payment Indian Railways is providing Point Of Sale machines for facilitating payment by cards and promoting ticketing –both reserved and unreserved – through IVRS, Ticket Vending Machines installed at stations, internet and mobile applications and also providing additional cashless payment options through
Till 9th January 2017, 2967 POS machines have been provided at around 2084 locations and it is proposed to progressively provide POS machines at all Reservation Centres (3300) starting with A1, A and B category stations (709 stations) and at suburban stations (483 stations). Non-suburban stations will also be provided with POS machines. The process is expected to be completed by 31st March 2017. The collection through POS machines at PRS centres is now around 3.5 - 4% of the total daily earnings at PRS.
The percentage of cashless transaction in reserved segment has increased from an average of 58% in 2015-16 to 68% at present. In the unreserved segment it has increased from 6.5% to 8%.
IRCTC Connect App
Indian Railways E-ticketing System caters to over 10 lakhs passengers daily (comprising 58 percent of total reserved passengers) who can book Railways reserved tickets without leaving their homes/offices. To increase the ease to users, a new Android based mobile app for reserved booking “IRCTC Rail Connect” has been developed to bring the power of Next E-ticketing System like High Performance and Enhanced Security.
This app will replace the existing ‘IRCTC connect’ app. The existing app had limited features like:
New IRCTC Rail Connect app has following features:
The App provides Payment Gateway linked to more than 40 banks to facilitate payments through net banking, Credit cards, Debit Cards and of PayTM, PayU, Mobikwik and IRCTC. Gradually more like SBI Buddy etc will be integrated.
ADDITIONAL PAYMENT OPTIONS ON UTS-on- Mobile App
“utsonmobile” App is in use for booking Unreserved Journey, Platform and Season Tickets at all Suburban of Indian Railways and New Delhi – Palwal Section of Northern Railway. It is presently implemented on 501 Stations and has average daily booking of 53,000 Passengers
Presently the payment option is only through R-wallet. In order to provide additional cashless payment facility of payment through private (Pay TM and Mobikwik) is being provided.
More wallets (like SBI Buddy) will be integrated in future.
Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.