IRCTC plans to open 5 automated kitchens all over the country in the next two years to offer catering services to corporates and other institutional customers.
It recently opened one at Noida which has a noteworthy client list - HCL, Samsung, Aditya Birla, and Supertech builders among others.
With an investment of Rs 5.5 crore, this facility has a capacity of 10,000 meals per day, which it plans to scale up to 25,000 meals per day by next year.
Another facility will open in Chennai by the end of this year and in Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata by next year. It is also all set to increase the number of Rail Neer plants from 3 to 9.
The new plants that will come up in Amethi, Ambala, Nasik, Kerala and West Bengal will be based on the PPP model.
Under a new catering policy in 2010, IRCTC was stripped of the licence to provide catering services to railways except for a handful of trains and a minimal number of food units on station premises. Now, the company serves just 33 trains, compared with 285 earlier.
As a result, in the past one and a half years, IRCTC suffered a jolting loss of Rs 270 crore in its catering business . Total revenues fell from Rs 722 crore in 2010 to Rs 554 crore in 2011-12 . As a result, the company is forced to look elsewhere to make up the lost revenue.
Dr. Nalin Shingal, Director (tourism & mktg) said, "Losing the licensed catering was a huge loss, which I am sure, in long term will help the company become stronger. We have taken up the task of diversifying in the hospitality sector."
The company also began offering air ticket bookings on its site in May this year, thus entering an already fiercely competitive sector. "There are private players and there is cutthroat competition, but we have ventured into air ticketing with our trustworthy image and a great record of rail ticket booking ," said the spokesperson of IRCTC.
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