The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) plans of setting up budget hotels near railway stations in state capitals and is in talks with several states for allotment of land. Also, nearly two years after its on-board train catering services was discontinued, the is banking on its newly-started facility management division through which it provides a one-window solution for catering, front office, housekeeping, security, laundry, and horticulture services to private companies, government organisations and educational institutes.
IRCTC hopes that the newly-started facility management division has a potential to contribute around 30 per cent to its total revenue in the coming years.
“The work on getting into the hospitality sector is progressing and we are in talks with various state governments for a tie-up. We plan to start budget hotels near railway stations in state capitals where the state government would provide land and we would build and operate the hotels as a concessionaire,” a senior IRCTC official was quoted as saying in a report by Rajat Arora in The Financial Express. “We are expecting our newly-started facility management services to make up for the loss in revenue caused in on-board catering services. We are already providing facility management at a few educational institutes, IT parks and government organisations and are also in talks with various government departments, Public Sector Undertakings and IT majors,” the official said.