IRCTC to monetize USER DATA ? Why not ?

 IRCTC  to monetize USER DATA ? Why not ?

 

 

 

Context :

 

IRCTC looks to leverage ‘digital assets’ to bolster revenue /  18 Aug 2022  / HINDU

 

 

Extract :

 

 

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has floated a tender to hire a consultant that can help the firm monetise the “reservoir of digital data”, including customer data of both passenger services as well as freight services, to unlock estimated revenue potential of ₹ 1,000 crore.

 

 

In the notice inviting applications from consultants, the firm said Indian Railways generated enormous amounts of data, presenting ‘large scope’ for monetisation.

 

 

“Indian Railways desires to monetise the data in customer/vendor applications and internal applications of Indian Railways…for generating revenues and also to enhance facilitation and further improve the services,” it said in the tender floated last month.

 

“IRCTC wishes to engage a consulting firm to help in identification, design, and development and roll-out of data monetisation opportunities.”

 

It also added that the applying party needed to study “various Acts or laws including IT Act 2000 and its amendments, User data privacy laws including GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and current ‘Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 of India, and accordingly propose the business models for monetisation of Digital Assets”.

 

The consultant, it said, would be provided with details of applications and the data collected, for conducting the study on monetisation of digital data and would need to study data of the passenger, freight and parcel businesses, including customer data such as name, age, gender, class of journey, payment mode, etc. The consultant will also need to study digital data systems that generate behavioural data such as ,

 

#  flow of passengers,

#  frequency of journey,

#  travel time and

#  booking time, ………….among other things.

 

In a recent earnings call, the company’s Chairperson and MD Rajni Hasija [ cmd@irctc.com

/  dtm@irctc.com ],

 

said IRCTC was focussing on the non-convenience fee resources more, in addition to the convenience fee resources (for revenue generation) and “one key driver will be… en-cashing the presence of IRCTC in the Internet and the digital asset monetisation…we have floated the tender for that, so we are hoping for some good results”.

 

 

 

MY  TAKE  :

 

No one can blame IRCTC for wanting to “ Monetize “ its enormous data-base of train travellers

 

Every Social Media / E Comm Platforms / Service Provider website, does it

 

In fact when implemented, this ( copy-cat ) initiative can yield IRCTC , Rs 10,000 Cr annually !

 

 

Consider following figures :

 

“ IRCTC has more than 100 million registered users, out of whom 76 million are active users

 

PRS handles reservations, changes, cancellations and refunds, booking 1.6 million seats and berths daily and handling more than 100 million transactions per day.

Designed, developed, implemented and run by CRIS, the system can handle up to 28,000 transactions per minute. A record 26,458 tickets were booked in a minute on 5 March, 2020. The fear is that the system may soon be overwhelmed with this exponential growth in transactions; hence the need for an early revamp. The last major revamp was done in December 2020. “

 

From the following comparative tabulation, you can see the huge “ Scope of Opportunity “ , if IRCTC offers some additional “ value-added service “ , to travellers who are willing to supply some extra data

 

 

I urge IRCTC link up with  ONDC  / https://ondc.org/

 

 

[ kanika.sethi@qcin.org ]

 

 

 

With regards,

 

Hemen Parekh  /  hcp@RecruitGuru.com  /  19 Aug 2022

 

 

Srl No	Data Level - Details	Required  ( Optional ) as suggested in my following blogs :   Ø Digital Dividend Ø SARAL Ø Statutory Warning	Required by IRCTC ✓   ( Value Added Services )
1	Personal Data	✓	✓
2	Family Data	✓	Marital Status
3	Contact Data	✓	✓
4	Social Media Data	✓	✓
5	Cultural Exposure Data	✓	For online booking of entertainment venues
6	Edu Qualification Data	✓	For online application to Edu Institutions / ITIs
7	Language Knowledge Data	✓	✓
8	Job Experience Data	✓	For “ Submit Resume – Apply Online “ , against “ Job Alerts “ delivered through Mobile App
9	Wealth-Income Data	✓	For Investment opportunities
10	Medical History Data	✓	For Medical Tele-Consultancy

 

To be able to buy a train ticket on IRCTC portal, a person needs to provide following DATA :

 

 

[ A ]…….. “ Create Your Account “  form

 

Ø User Name / Password / Preferred Language / Security Question – Answer

 

Ø Personal Data :

#  Name  ( First – Middle – Last )

 

#  Occupation

 

#  Country

 

#  E Mail ID

 

#  Nationality

 

#  Date of Birth ( DOB )

 

#  Marital Status

 

#  Gendre

 

#  Mobile No.

 

#  Address ( State-City-Area-Street – Flat No – Post Office – PIN – Phone )

 

 

 

[ B ]…..  “ Book Ticket “ form

 

             # Journey starting from………

 

             #  Journey to………………

 

             #  Journey Date …… DD – MM -  YY

 

             #  Class

 

             #  General ( Ladies – Lower Berth – Sr Citizen – Person with disability – Tatkal – Premium Tatkal )

 

 

 

 

Related Readings :

 

SARAL  (  Single Authentic  Registration Anywhere Login  ) 

 

Only Answer ; a Statutory Warning  

 

      A  Matter  of  Motive  ?    

 

     Privacy  for  Sale   

 

      Right to Sell My Soul ?  

 

Wealth of Nations