Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is entering into new business segments like train operations as new opportunities are opening up, said Mahendra Pratap Mall, chairman and managing director. The first train under IRCTC's operations has already started on the Delhi-Lucknow route, he added.

The second train on the same route will start operating by the first week of December, he said, adding that, with the success of the first train, IRCTC plans to request the ministry of railways to allot the firm two more routes.

IRCTC is the only entity authorised by Indian Railways to provide catering services to railways, online railway tickets and packaged drinking water at railway stations and trains in India.

IRCTC has made a strong stock market debut on Monday, listing at a 103 percent premium from its issue price. The IRCTC IPO, which was open for subscription between September 30 and October 4, was subscribed 112 times at a price band of Rs 315-320 per share.

“If we have to survive and prosper, we have to not only maintain this level of service but we constantly update it as well," Mall said.

Mall said IRCTC earned almost 55 percent of revenue from the catering segment in the fiscal year 2019, 24 percent from tourism, 11 percent from internet ticketing and about 9-10 prcent from Rail Neer (packaged drinking water).

"However, this year it’s going to change because of the imposition of service charge and perhaps internet ticketing will come at number two. So situation and distribution matrix may change,” he said.

“In catering, we have almost a margin of 15 percent, tourism is about 10 percent, Rail Neer is about 12-13 percent and we have to see for internet ticketing because so far it was about 30-40 percent but with the imposition of service charge, convenience fee we have to work out,” added Mall.

According to him, IRCTC will get an additional Rs 300 crore in FY20 from internet ticketing.