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'Suspension of 1.50L e-ticket agents to result in heavy loss'
The on-line railway ticket booking business will lose Rs. 300 crore per month and hardship for travellers will increase following the recent decision of the railway to suspend 1.50 lakh authorised e-ticketing agents, according to agents.
Effective March 1, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC), through a simple notification, barred nearly 1.50 lakh authorised e-ticketing agents from operating, citing misuse of Tatkal facility as well as creation of multiple user IDs on IRCTC website.
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to an e-ticket agent, Shyam Gupta, these 1.50 lakh agents were selling around three lakh tickets valued at around Rs. 10 crore per day.
"A few franchisees of leading e-ticket agents might have misused the facility for making a fast buck, but IRCTC should not penalise the entire industry, " Gupta said.
Some of the big e-ticket agents like OSS Retails Pvt Ltd, ITZ Cash Card Pvt Ltd and Suvidha Star Net Pvt were offering e-tickets through franchisees. E-ticketing agents usually charge extra Rs. 5 to 10 per ticket.
Following the suspension, the black marketing of rail tickets has gone up considerably and unauthorised agents are fleecing customers, charging commission between Rs. 75 and Rs. 100 per ticket, the agents said.
OSS Group Chairman Subhash Jewria said the suspension was a temporary phenomena and e-ticketing will return soon as most of the agents are discussing the issue with IRCTC.