Shares of IRCTC gained as much as 3.5 percent after the company announced that catering facilities in all coaches or trains booked on full tariff rates (FTR) will be arranged by IRCTC. The company cited a directive from the Ministry of Railways for the announcement.

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"Party will book catering facilities in such special coaches / trains etc. through IRCTC only, except for booking of FTR trains along with Pantry Car," the IRCTC announcement said.

The orders will be applicable on all future bookings, including bookings where the journey is yet to commence.

Parties who book a Full Tariff Rate trains including pantry coaches will be supplied with such pantries, which have flameless cooking facility only. In case of non-availability of ICF pantry cars with flameless cooking facility, LHB rakes will be supplied for the train bookings, where pantry has been demanded.

The Full Tariff Rate (FTR) service of the Indian Railways allows passengers or organisations to make bookings for an entire train or some coaches for marriage, tour programmes etc. This can be done via the FTR Website.

Online booking of an FTR train is allowed starting from all railway stations. A chartered coach can be attached or detached only in those stations where the train stoppage is more than 10 minutes.

Catering is IRCTC's largest business in terms of revenue contribution. As of the June quarter, the business contributed to nearly half of the company's overall topline.

Shares of IRCTC have recovered as much as 6 percent from the day's low post the announcement. The stock is trading 3.7 percent higher at Rs 733.10.

First Published:Sept 8, 2023 2:18 PM IST