Ministry of Railways formed the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation

Limited (IRCTC) in 1999 to manage hospitality services during rail travel. The IRCTC is
also responsible for information, publicity and global reservation systems. In 2002
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) introduce an online
booking service that has simplified rail travel in India.

It enable customers to book tickets from the comfort of their own home and to reduce
ticketing costs for the railways through savings in manpower. The IRCTC reservation site
allows passengers to access train fares, routes and availability in real-time, book tickets
online and track the status of their ticket.Today, there are 3,200 tickets booked a day on
IRCTC’s web site, which has over one million registered customers. The I- tickets are
printed centrally in Delhi and are delivered within a twenty four hour deadline in Mumbai
and Delhi. Delivery to any other part of the country is within a three day . IRCTC
contributes 1/3rd to India’s ecommerce industry, sold 38.7 million tickets (as of Feb 09) and
estimated gross sales stands at Rs 3,400 crore (while India’s ecommerce industry stands at ~9,000
crores). IRCTC also offers online hotel booking, cab booking, packaged holiday booking,
and many other online services.

The ecommerce industry in India is all set to touch Rs. 9210 crore by the end of FY08. (30%
jump from Rs 7,080 crore in ’07).