Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to IRCTC Limited Q4 and full year FY26 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes.
Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. I now hand the conference over to Mr.
Rahul Jain from Dolat Capital Market Private Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Rahul Jain
Thank you, [Ria?] .
Good afternoon, everyone. On behalf of Dolat Capital, we welcome you all to the Q4 FY26 earnings conference call of IRCTC Limited.
I take this opportunity to welcome the management of IRCTC Limited, represented by Mr. Sanjay Kumar Jain, who is CMD of the company; Mr.
Sudhir Kumar, who is Director, Finance and CFO; and also we have today with us Shri Rahul Himalian ji, Director, Tourism and Marketing; and Mr. Manoj Sharma, Director, Catering Services of the company.
Now I would like to hand the conference over to IRCTC management to take the proceedings forward. Over to you, please, Sanjay ji.
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Thank you, Rahul. A very good afternoon, everyone.
It's my pleasure to welcome you to the earnings call of IRCTC for the quarter and year ending 31st March 2026. The financial results for Q4 26 were announced yesterday and filed with the stock exchanges.
I will begin with a brief overview of our performance. Thereafter, our Director, Tourism and Marketing, Mr.
Rahul Himalian, will present a detailed financial and segment-wise analysis, as our Director, Finance is not available because of his personal casualty in his family. We will then open the floor for questions.
Q4 FY26 stood out to be extremely encouraging with the highest ever revenue and profitability in the company's history in absolute terms. This reflects the strength of our operating model, resilient business segments, and sustained momentum across core business verticals.
The company has registered all-time high financial performance in terms of revenue from operations, PAT, and EBITDA in the financial year 2025-26. During the financial year, revenue from operations of IRCTC stood at ₹5,215 crores, registering an increase of around 12% as compared to previous financial year 2024-25, driven by strong performance across all segments with improved operational efficiency and prudent cost management.
EBITDA stood at ₹1,666 crores, registering an increase of approximately 7% from previous years. During the financial year, PAT stood at ₹1,393 crores, registering an increase of approximately 6% from previous years.
The company has also declared and paid the highest dividend in the financial year 25-26 of ₹720 crores, out of which 680 crores has already been paid as interim dividend, and 40 crores has been declared as a final dividend by the BOD, subject to the approval of AGM in the AGM. Thank you.
I now hand over the call to Mr. Rahul Himalian, our Director, Tourism and Marketing, for a detailed discussion on the financial and segmental performance.
Thank you.
Rahul Himalian
Thank you, sir. Namaskaram.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am Rahul Himalian, Director, Tourism and Marketing, IRCTC.
On behalf of the entire management team of IRCTC and the IRCTC fraternity, I extend a very warm welcome to all of you to this earnings call today to present you with the overall financial and operational performance of IRCTC in the financial year 2025-26 along with the results of the fourth quarter of FY 25-26. I am pleased to share that the company has delivered a very strong and resilient financial performance during the financial year 2025-26, including quarter ending 31st March 2026, reflecting the robustness of our diversified business model, disciplined execution, and continued focus on operational excellence and customer centricity.
While discussing the financial results of financial year 2025-26, you'll be glad to know that IRCTC recorded its highest ever revenue from operations at ₹5,215 crores in the financial year 25-26 compared to 4,675 crore rupees in financial year 2024-25, registering a year-on-year growth of 11.55%, which is more than the year-on-year growth of 9.74% recorded in financial year 2024-25. Number two, IRCTC recorded its highest ever total revenue of 5,475 crore rupees in the financial year 2025-26 compared to ₹4,904 crores in financial year 2024-25, registering a year-on-year growth of 11.64%, which is more than the year-on-year growth of 10.80% recorded in financial year 2024-25.
Number three, IRCTC also recorded highest ever profit before tax of ₹1,875 crores compared to ₹1,757 crores in financial year 2024-25, registering a year-on-year growth of 6.72%. The overall profit earned by the company has been driven with strong performances from all business verticals of IRCTC, including catering, IT, tourism, and Rail Neer.
Similarly, the EBITDA grew from ₹1,550 crores in financial year 2024-25 to ₹1,666 crores in financial year 2025-26, registering a growth of 7.48%. Now taking you deeper into the segment-wise performance for the financial year 2025-26, the catering segment recorded a revenue of ₹2,399 crores in financial year 2025-26 as compared to ₹2,125 crores in financial year 2024-25, registering a year-on-year growth of 12.89%, that is nearly 13%.
The Rail Neer segment recorded a revenue of ₹391 crores versus 379 crores in financial year 2024-25, registering a year-on-year growth of 3.17% and a marked growth in profit year-on-year of 21.74%. The internet ticketing segment recorded a revenue of 1,536 crores in financial year 2025-26 as compared to ₹1,426 crores in financial year 2024-25, registering a year-on-year growth of 7.71% with a marked growth in profit of 7.55%.
The tourism segment recorded a revenue of 890 crores in financial year 2025-26 as compared to 745 crores in financial year 2024-25, registering a year-on-year growth of 19.46% with a whopping growth in profit of 36.17%. Now allow me to briefly highlight the segment-wise performance for Q4 of financial year 2025-26.
The total revenue from operations stood at 1,460 crores in Q4 of financial year 2025-26 as compared to revenue of ₹1,269 crores in Q4 of financial year 2024-25, registering a growth of 15.05%. There was a marginal dip in the comparative profit figures in Q4 with profits at 447 crores as compared to 472 crores in financial year 2024-25, prima facie due to macro environmental factors and exceptional items amounting to ₹48 crores legacy items, which were considered as income in the financial year 2024-25.
EBITDA for the quarter stood at 399 crores with a healthy EBITDA margin of 27.33%, while margins were impacted slightly due to a change in revenue mix, particularly higher contribution from catering and tourism segments, the company continued to maintain strong and sustainable profitability. Now talking about the business segments for Q4 of financial year 2025-26, the tourism segment delivered an excellent performance in Q4, crossing an overall revenue of 304 crores compared to a ₹274 crores in financial year 2024-25, registering a growth of 10.95% year-on-year, despite the current geopolitical environment.
The EBITDA margins improved to 16%, driven by a better product mix and focused cost rationalization initiatives. The internet ticketing reported revenue of 390 crores versus 373 crores, reflecting an year-on-year growth of 4.56%.
You'll be glad to know that today we command 89% share of reserved railway tickets, and the segment continued to deliver robust profitability with EBITDA margin of 76%, driven by strong operating leverage and sustained cost efficiencies. The catering segment recorded a revenue of 671 crores compared to ₹529 crores in 24-25, achieving an impressive growth of 26.84% year-on-year.
The margins in this segment were impacted due to higher sales contribution from train catering operations and pilot initiatives such as branded catering projects, undertaken with a view to enhancing customer experience and passenger satisfaction. Nevertheless, catering continues to remain a steady and scalable growth driver, supported by increasing passenger volumes and our continuous efforts towards service enhancements.
Lastly, Rail Neer generated a revenue of 95 crores compared to 92 crores, registering a year-on-year growth of 3.26%. The segment witnessed an improvement in margins during the quarter, supported by economies in material cost, operational efficiencies, and sustained consumer confidence in the brand.
Overall, our fourth quarter performance demonstrates the resilience and strength of IRCTC's business fundamentals despite the ongoing geopolitical turmoil, prudent cost management with rational austerity measures, strong digital capabilities, and unwavering commitment to operational excellence. We remain confident about our future business growth trajectory and believe the company is well positioned to create sustainable long-term value for all its stakeholders.
With these remarks, I conclude my today's address to the IRCTC family. We will now open the floor for questions, please.
Thank you. Namaskar.
Operator
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question-and-answer session.
Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two.
Participants are requested to use handset while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles.
First question is from the line of Jinesh Joshi from PL Capital. Please go ahead.
Jinesh Joshi
Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, if I look at our internet ticketing EBIT margin, it was at about 76% in this quarter, while the catering EBIT margin was also down to about 6.2%.
I understand in the opening remarks you did mention something about the catering division, and there was some one-off with respect to some branded project that you highlighted. If you can be a bit more specific and quantify what were the one-off elements in these two segments which have led to erosion in margins?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
We are not properly hear you because of noise from background. Sorry?
Operator
Sir, can you please repeat your question?
Jinesh Joshi
My question is on the internet ticketing EBIT margin which was down to 76%, and also the catering EBIT margin which was down to 6.2%. Just wanted to know, were there any one-offs in this segments?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
What is this noise from behind?
Dolat Capital?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Dolat Capital, some noise is there from the background. Peechhe se kaafi aawaz aa rahi hai, aapki aawaz sunai nahi pad rahi hai.
Abhi better hai, sir? Nahi, peechhe se aawaz kyu aa rahi hai, Dolat Capital?
Operator
Sir, can we request you to rejoin the queue?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Aap unko
mute karaiye
Sanjay Kumar Jain
na, so that jinse baat ho rahi hai unki baat toh hum log sun paaye. He is still talking.
Operator
Sir, Rahul sir's line is on mute only.
Sanjay Kumar Jain
No, please see that.
Operator
Jinesh
Sanjay Kumar Jain
sir, there
Operator
is a lot of background noise from your line. Can you please rejoin the question queue?
As there is no response, we'll move ahead. The next question is from the line of Kanishk Gupta from SS Family Office.
Please go ahead.
Kanishk Gupta
Sir. Very good afternoon to you.
Sir, my question would be particularly on the August Kranti Rajdhani train. Despite being a premium Mumbai-Delhi train which currently stops at Mathura but not at Agra, which is a major tourist and business destination, and from a personal observation, I have observed that many passengers deboard at Mathura and then travel onward to Agra by road, creating additional inconvenience and transit inefficiency.
Additionally, another train, Mumbai-Delhi Tejas Rajdhani currently does not stop at Mathura or at Agra. Have you evaluated any possibility of introducing an Agra stoppage for such premium trains due to the high tourism destination like Agra could enhance passenger convenience and premium passenger demand on this corridor?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
May I come in, SS Gupta family? Hello?
Kanishk Gupta
Sorry?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
You are listening
Kanishk Gupta
You are able
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Am I audible?
Kanishk Gupta
Yes, sir.
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Yes, sir. August Kranti Rajdhani ka route hai Mathura se Kota hote hue Mumbai jaane ke liye.
Agar kisi ko Agra jaana hai toh there is another train, Rajdhani train from Mumbai which goes up to CSMT and comes up to Nizamuddin. Passengers aspiring to go to Agra, they can take that route.
Secondly, this is concerning Indian Railways. We will certainly if you send some request to them, they will consider introducing another train also.
Thank you.
Kanishk Gupta
Nahi sir, what I mean to say that agar availability Agra ke liye bhi aa jayegi toh direct IRCTC ka revenue potential increase ho sakta hai, kyunki wahan pe one of the Seven Wonders of the World present hai.
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Nahi, isme aap samajhiye uska route Agra hoke nahi hai. IRCTC cannot go to Guwahati via Srinagar.
It has to go from Delhi to Guwahati via Kanpur or via Moradabad. The route is not there.
You got my point? Thank you.
Kanishk Gupta
Sir. Got it.
Sir, the second question would be on the convenience fees across AC and non-AC ticket categories have largely remained unchanged for several years despite rising digital volumes and inflation and continued investment in the platform infrastructure. How do you evaluate the scope for revisiting convenience fee structure over the long term while balancing affordability and monetization?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
At the moment, we are not planning to enhance anything, but of course, when it will pinch us, we'll think about it. Thank you.
Kanishk Gupta
Sir, given the strong cash balance that currently IRCTC has and ability to generate highly efficient cash flows, what would be the key capital allocation priority over the next few years?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
You see, we are asset-light company, but we are basically trying to invest into our platform. First we are improving our infrastructure of e-ticketing, to give a convenience to our passengers.
Secondly, to make it more secure, we are putting money to that. Besides that, we are planning to have four additional Rail Neer plants, expansion of existing two Rail Neer plants, and we are also trying to go in hotel business.
Kanishk Gupta
Sir, on this question, as a follow-up, dividend payout ratio remains relatively strong at approximately 50%, any other methods you are currently evaluating to reward shareholders as in terms of buyback?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
This decision is done by DIPAM, Ministry of Finance. Though we qualify for their criteria, but there is a number of years barrier there.
Our board has already apprised the DIPAM in this regard. Thank you.
Kanishk Gupta
Sir, last question would be on that IRCTC operated at 36% approximately four years ago, 36% EBITDA margins, while Q4 FY26 margins currently are 27%. Can you elaborate the key drivers behind this compression and whether those earlier 36% margins were structurally sustainable or largely a peak driven by favorable e-ticketing business mix and operating leverage?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
You see, we are aspiring to improve our revenue by increasing our different business segments. In the process, the high-margin business or revenue, as you already know that we are working on 89% of railway ticket booking.
There we are finding it not very, very encouraging look forward. We have planned to improve the other segment of our business like catering, tourism, Rail Neer.
There our margin is around 12 10 to anywhere 10% to 12%. We have planned to see the improve in absolute margin.
We are regularly telling that in all the investors call, and earlier also, that we will maintain 30%. Now if you go with this financial year, the margin comes to around 31.95%.
Why there is a dip of 20 up to 27%, because in this quarter, we have booked some exceptional items. If we deduct those exceptional items in this quarter, it will be around 30% only.
Thank you.
Kanishk Gupta
Sir, in the long run, is it safe to say that you aim to target mid-30s kind of margin?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Yes, 30 we are aspiring to maintain 30%.
Kanishk Gupta
Sir. That's it from my side.
Thank you, and all the best for the future.
Operator
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Mr.
Jinesh Joshi from PL Capital. Please go ahead.
Jinesh Joshi
Am I audible now?
Operator
Yes, sir. Please go ahead.
Yes.
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Yes.
Jinesh Joshi
Yeah. Sir, what was the exceptional item that you booked in this quarter, and if you can quantify that amount?
Secondly, also, can you share, did we get any revenue from running election special trains in 4Q? That is my first question.
Sanjay Kumar Jain
You see, there are three major items which I can quantify is, first, the legacy item, which was booked in March '25 was around ₹48 crores, which is not there this year. Then allocation of CSR activities, which was last year ₹7 crores only, it is ₹31 crores this year.
We have provided for additional ECL of around ₹16 crores as against ₹8 crores. First thing is this.
Secondly, election special, we have a revenue of ₹2.38 crores.
Jinesh Joshi
Sir, just to repeat the numbers, because there was some issue in your voice, you highlighted that election special revenue was ₹2.38 crores, and the ECL provisioning was ₹16 crores. What was the CSR number that you highlighted for this quarter?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Legacy legacy item was ₹48 crores, which was there in March '25. This year, it is not there.
CSR, as against ₹7 crores booked last year, we have this time the whole of CSR, ₹31 crores has been booked, that is additional ₹24 crores in this quarter. ECL, last year we booked ₹8 crores, this year we have booked provided ₹16 crores.
Largely these are the exceptional items. Far as election special, in this quarter, we we have booked ₹2.38 crores.
The financial year, it is in the financial year, it is ₹6.77 crores.
Jinesh Joshi
Perfect, sir. Thank you.
Thank you.
Sanjay Kumar Jain
If you want, we will send across you the exact figures also. That will check and reach
Jinesh Joshi
No, sir. This is pretty clear.
Sir, my second question is on the catering division. I believe the last price hike happened in 2019, and now given the surge in gas prices, is there a possibility of revision in catering prices?
Basically, how are the licensees coping with the inflation given their input cost has also risen? Your comments on that.
Just in case, hypothetically, if the price hike happens, will we benefit from the old contracts that have been awarded to the licensees? I thought of asking this because they were given at a fixed fee.
If you can just clarify on this bit.
Sanjay Kumar Jain
You see, your hypothecation I cannot answer till the price is raised, because it is an administered item and is decided by Ministry of Railways. I can't comment on to that.
Thank you very much.
Jinesh Joshi
Last bookkeeping question: if you can share the number of ticket booked, the convenience fee, and the AC share in this quarter?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Number of tickets booked in AC class is 6.85 crores, and non-AC class 6.54 crores, total 13.39 crores.
Jinesh Joshi
Share of UPI?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
51.7%.
Jinesh Joshi
The convenience fee income also, sir?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Convenience fee income was ₹247 crores. Sure.
Jinesh Joshi
Sir, just one suggestion: if you can maybe put out a presentation and give out all these KPI numbers, it will be really handy. That is one suggestion from my side.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Theek hai.
Operator
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Madhuchanda Dey from MC Pro.
Please go ahead.
Madhuchanda Dey
Hi. My question is related to the previous question.
Like you called out some exceptional items, but I just wanted to check that there's a sharp decline in the EBIT margin for catering, from 10.4% to 6.3%. Was anything business specific in this margin decline?
Similarly, for internet ticketing, it's 85% to 76%, that kind of a decline. Was there anything business specific?
Yeah.
Sanjay Kumar Jain
In the catering, the margin dipped because of these exceptional items. Last year, same quarter, we have provided for ECL item of only ₹5 crores, this year it is ₹16 crores.
CSR allocation under catering was done as against ₹1 crore, it's ₹5 crores. Legacy items this year it is not there, last year ₹33 crores.
Direct cost, because of GST, increase in the premium train sales, is around ₹3 crores. This is regarding catering.
Madhuchanda Dey
I didn't understand the last item that you called out. GST increase in premium trains, this year it is ₹3 crores, last year there was nothing.
That's what you said, right?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Over to last year, additional ₹3 crores.
Madhuchanda Dey
You see,
Sanjay Kumar Jain
because of increase of the sales. As regards IT business, the reason for the down is allocation of CSR of additional ₹17 crores on this, direct cost around ₹8 crores, and increase in the UPI share, it is again ₹8 crores.
Madhuchanda Dey
Okay. In the fourth quarter, there was a shortage of commercial cylinder, did that impact margin by any chance in your business?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Actually, we have done many things to get rid of this problem. We have allowed our vendors to cook on the pantry car, which are already having safety facilities.
All our LHB pantry car is now can produce meals in a running train. We have allowed our vendors or licensees to cook their meals and serve onto the train.
That is run on electricity. Secondly, at very big places, we have used this electric as a mode of induction cooking.
Thirdly, we have tied up with all this marketing company, IOCL, BPCL, HPCL to give us the priority as per the government direct.
Madhuchanda Dey
Great. Sir, just the last question from my side.
Because of the increase in airfares, especially on international routes, we are hearing that there's a lot of diversion of tourism to domestic tourism in this peak summer holiday season in India. Are you seeing any change in the number of tickets booked, or holidays booked, or overall increase in passenger traffic?
Hello? Hello?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Yeah. In our tourism, this quarter, our tourism revenue grew from ₹274 crores to ₹304 crores.
Despite all these issues, this has increased. Similarly, IT business has also increased from ₹372 crores to ₹390 crores.
Certainly that has added to our revenue. We got the opportunity, and we have utilized it.
Madhuchanda Dey
Sir, my question was pertaining to this quarter, which means we are already 1.5 months into this new quarter. My question was, are you seeing any increased activity in domestic tourism in this quarter, which is the April-June quarter, because we are already 1.5 months into it?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
You want me to comment on a thing which I should not, because it's a listed company. Yes, we are very hopeful.
Thank you.
Madhuchanda Dey
Okay. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Sonal from Prescient Capital.
Please go ahead.
Sonal Minhas
Hi, this is Sonal Minhas. I hope I'm audible.
Operator
Sir, your voice is breaking.
Sonal Minhas
Am I audible, or should I speak again?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Please. Please go ahead.
Sonal Minhas
Sure.
Operator
Sir, you can go ahead with your question.
Sonal Minhas
Hi. Am I audible now?
Operator
Yes, sir.
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Sure.
Sonal Minhas
Yes. Sorry for this, sir.
I have a question with regard to the percentage of tickets that are booked on IRCTC with your channel partners and online travel agents like EaseMyTrip, MakeMyTrip, and others. What would be that share for this particular financial year, if you could give us an understanding?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
I will send you the details. Channel partner, I think 28% around.
Sonal Minhas
All right, sir. Sir, has that number increased over the last one year directionally without taking absolute numbers?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Appears to be same, but we will send you the numbers. Thank you.
Sonal Minhas
Okay. Sir, I have a follow-up question on this one, that from a tech perspective, how do you see your channel partners directionally from here to the next 2-3 years?
Do you think IRCTC can do much better on their portal to actually bypass these channel partners, or these are channel partners who can actually add value to your business, your platform? Just want to understand from a buildout perspective of IRCTC going forward.
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Why do you want me to lose money? You are my investor.
You should be happy if I work with them more. Thank you.
Sonal Minhas
All right, sir. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Abhishek from Investec.
Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir.
Thank you for the opportunity. My question is on the other expenses.
Other expenses in a quarter comes at around roughly at ₹40 to ₹50 crores, but in this quarter, it is around ₹109 crores. What are the reasons behind that?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
As I explained in my initial talk that we have booked CSR around ₹31, ₹32 crores and ECL ₹16 crores. That's why it has increased.
Thank you.
Sir. Thanks.
Operator
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Pranav Mashruwala from Dolat Capital.
Please go ahead.
Pranav Mashruwala
Hello.
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Am
Pranav Mashruwala
I
Operator
audible?
Pranav Mashruwala
Yes. Hi, thank you for the opportunity.
One question on tourism. The top line has been healthy, but there has been some mild contraction in the margin.
What has been the current growth driver for Q4? Was there some lower-margin Bharat Gaurav or lower tourism packages versus lower premium luxury tourism?
How can we think about some of the sustainability of margins in this business?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Decrease in margin is basically because of allocation of CSR of ₹1.5 crores and decrease in the margin of Tejas Express, two Tejas Express we are running. Otherwise, this margin would be around 18%.
Thank you.
Pranav Mashruwala
Okay. Next, one question would be on Rail Neer.
Here we have seen a good margin expansion. What has been driving this margin expansion?
Any operational efficiencies which are more sustainable or improved capacity utilization?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Yeah. This last quarter, the preform rates were quite good, so that's how the margin percentage increased.
Thank you.
Pranav Mashruwala
Okay. Just maybe a broad-level question.
We've seen good growth in catering and tourism overall, but the ticketing growth has been a bit moderating, considering even the digital penetration is high and the adoption is quite good. How do we see the revenue mix evolving over next few years, and which business will be the primary growth driver for us?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
You see, revenue-wise, primary growth I see in catering. It will continue to maintain around 15%.
Tourism we are eyeing to continue with around this year we are booking 19%, should continue to be around 20%. IT business is 7%.
We want to increase the non-convenience fee, and for that we are already working on unified portal and I-Pay. That will be around 10%.
We want to maintain that. Thank you.
Pranav Mashruwala
Thank you. That's all from my side.
Operator
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Kartik Gada from Multiple Wealth.
Please go ahead.
Kartik Gada
Thank you for the opportunity. Am I audible?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Yes, please.
Kartik Gada
Yeah. On this CSR, which you mentioned against ₹7 crores we booked ₹31 crores.
Understand. What led to increase because in terms of full-year revenue growth, we are at 11.5%, but the CSR increases almost 4x, kind of a little more than 4x.
What is the rationale for such a sharp increase in CSR?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
You see, CSR, as you must be knowing that it's it's it depends on the profitability of last three years, and 2% of that. This year, why we could why we booked this expenditure in the last quarter, because most of our projects for CSR was sanctioned in this month, in this quarter.
Thank you.
Kartik Gada
Okay. Would there be such volatility going ahead also, or we should see it stabilizing around these level?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
This is an exceptional item. You see, every month if I book for, say, ₹2 crore or ₹3 crores of kind of things, then in 12 months we can book around ₹36, ₹32 crores which is the CSR liability on to us.
Generally it depends on because we identify the projects, we examine its feasibility and viability and whether it is good or not. It takes time.
I don't think it is making any It is just an exceptional item, you can say that. Thank you.
Kartik Gada
Okay. Just to understand in accounting terms, there is some element of both CSR and ECL in the EBIT line item also, and hence we are seeing lower EBIT margins for catering and internet ticketing.
Would that be right understanding?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Exactly.
Kartik Gada
Okay. Last question from my end.
Just to reconfirm the number of tickets which you mentioned, the total was 13.39 crores?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Yes. Yeah.
Kartik Gada
Okay. Thank you so much.
That's it from my side. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Harsh Yadav from Dolat Capital Markets Private Limited.
Please go ahead.
Harsh Yadav
Hi. Am I audible?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Please go on.
Harsh Yadav
Sir, you stated that enhancement of license fee for prepaid and postpaid trains for this quarter is a matter of sub judice. Could you quantify the potential incremental revenue that has not been recognized and what would be the timeline for resolution with respect to high courts?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
You are talking of the previous court case which is going on for CC-60?
Harsh Yadav
Yes.
Sanjay Kumar Jain
That is under litigation. I should not comment into it now, but under litigation.
Harsh Yadav
Okay. One more question.
So
Operator
Sir, your voice is really very low.
Harsh Yadav
Is it better now?
Operator
Yes, this is really very
Harsh Yadav
Am I audible now?
Operator
Yes, sir. This is better.
Yeah. Yeah.
Harsh Yadav
The RBI deadline for submitting final application for payment aggregator license has been extended to August '26, and you mentioned onboarding a tech service provider in Q3. Could you share the current milestone status of this application, and also once the license is secured, how quickly do we plan to launch the unified portal, and what is the expected monetization roadmap for cross-selling travel services?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
August is a deadline, and I am happy to tell that we will be able to do it by that time. We have already engaged our partner.
Thank you.
Harsh Yadav
One more question on Rail Neer. As you mentioned last quarter that you're doubling capacity for Danapur and Ambernath, and also working on four greenfield plants.
What would be the execution status of these plants? You indicated Q3 that you were exploring tie-ups with other beverage brands to bridge that 40% demand-supply gap.
Has there been any progress on those discussions?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
Yeah. We have already tendered our expansion plan for Ambernath from 2 lakh bottles per day to 3 lakh bottles, and similarly for Danapur Rail Neer plant from 1 lakh to 2 lakh bottles.
We have already tied up with the partner. The work is going on.
As regards four plants, we have already got land at Mysore and Prayagraj. Bhagalpur, one land which was given was not that good, we have again represented to give a good land where we can extract good water and no problem of in future water scarcity.
In Ranchi, verbally they have already told that it is allotted to you, but we have not got any formal communication from them. As regards engaging with other partners, channel partners, the discussion is going on.
Our experience till date is not very encouraging, but we are trying to find out a good partner for that. Thank you.
Harsh Yadav
Okay. Just one final question on catering.
You had highlighted that the prepaid Vande Bharat model operates on higher billing but lower margin with the Ministry of Railways planning to scale Vande Bharat trains. How should we model the long-term sustainable margin for catering division?
Are there pricing adjustment or licensing fee revision in discussion with the Railway Board?
Sanjay Kumar Jain
You see, I never told that we don't get a good margin in Vande Bharat train. In fact, we are getting two things.
One is our licensee, which is quite good. The other thing is our booking of revenue, because how it works.
First, our licensees, they give us the license fee for taking the right onto the train, and then they serve the meals to them, and they raise a bill to us. In turn, we take the money from Railways, which in turn takes the money from the passengers in the tariff, in the passenger fare.
That's how we are booking two things: one is license fee, another is turnover. When we book the turnover, we have to raise the bill, and for that 5% is the bill which raised which we don't get ITC credit.
Whenever the increase in the train revenue will be there, there will be an element of 5% of GST. Means I have to increase the revenue, I have to bear this 5%.
That's what I want to tell. Thank you.
Operator
Harsh sir, you're not audible if you're speaking anything.
Harsh Yadav
Yes, I think sir just cut off, but it's okay. I got it.
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. That was the last question of the day.
I now hand the conference over to management for closing comments.
Manoj Sharma
Ji namaskar. Aap sabhi ko bohot bohot namaskar.
Manoj Kumar Sharma bol raha hu, Director, Catering Services. Sabse pehle main IRCTC ki taraf se aap sabhi investors ko badhai dena chahunga, kyunki aap log ke sahyog aur samarthan se aur aapke vishwas se IRCTC ne kaafi accha performance diya hai.
Financial year 25-26 mein jo hamara revenue hai, operation ke madhyam se woh 12% grow kiya hai. Aur hamara PAT jo hai woh hai aapko 6% growth show kiya hai.
Aur main aap log ke lagataar, satat sahyog aur vishwas jo company mein aap log ka hai, uske liye main punah dhanyawad karta hu. Aapka aapke dwara diya gaya protsahan, motivation hum log ko aage badhne ke liye prerit karta hai aur jisse hum aage desh ki seva bhi kar paayein aur aapke jo hamare stakeholders hain unke saath ek long-term relation ke saath, sustainable growth ke saath hum log aage badh paayein.
Bohot bohot dhanyawad. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. On behalf of IRCTC Limited, that concludes this conference.
Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.
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