10 Mind-Blowing Facts Related to IRCTC You Didn’t Know
IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) has played a huge role in the way Indian Railways functions and carries out its activities. So much so that people often consider that Indian Railways and IRCTC are the same, although they are different entities. It is a Public Sector Undertaking, under the Indian Railways. It assists them in Ticket booking, Catering, Tourism and travel related issues.
Since its inception in 1999, IRCTC has become the digital face of the Indian Railways. Millions rely on it to get their daily tickets and railway related updates. Today, IRCTC has become much more than just a company that helps in booking tickets. It has become a multi-faceted enterprise that specializes in logistics of a humongous scale. It marvels in providing state-of-the-art digital infrastructure to one of the most complex and largest railway networks in the world and much more.
Here in this blog we have curated 10 mind-blowing facts about IRCTC that will provide a deeper understanding about this digital behemoth’s scale of operation and reach.
10. IRCTC’s First day of operation
IRCTC is famous for the huge number of visitors it receives for ticket booking, but do you know how many tickets did it sell on the first day of operation? 27 tickets only!
Yes, on 3rd August 2002 when IRCTC began its operation, it managed to book only 27 tickets. Today, IRCTC sells millions of tickets on a daily basis. This simple fact beautifully highlights the humble beginning of this logistics giant.
9. IRCTC is a Navratna
Recently the Government of India decided to elevate the status of IRCTC to Navratna status. Navratna status provides a greater financial autonomy to it with the authority to invest up to ₹ 1,000 crores without any government approval. With this development IRCTC became the 25th company to get government recognition for Navratna status.
8. IRCTC Net Worth
IRCTC is a financially robust entity which is growing year after year. In 2025, IRCTC’s Net Worth was found to be valued at ₹ 3663.30 Crores. This marks a 13.42% jump from the net worth of ₹3,229.97 crores recorded in 2024.
Before booking any ticket with the IRCTC platform, it is important to check train seat availability online once. RailMitra provides a smooth, fast and user-friendly method to check seat availability.
7. IRCTC’s Women Safety Algorithm
IRCTC allows booking of train tickets through Passenger Reservation System (PRS), whose algorithm has a seat allocation algorithm that prioritizes the safety and comfort of passengers it considers vulnerable.
For example, you could never find a female being provided a berth along with other Five male passengers. At least two females must ensure that no female passenger is left alone with only male passengers.
Railways also reserve a fixed number of lower berth seats for senior citizens, women, and disabled passengers. This demonstrated how IRCTC is not just a technological powerhouse but how it leverages its brilliance in addressing the issues of its wide user base.
6. IRCTC’S Ticket Booking Capacity
In 2025, Railways witnessed a humongous traffic due to Mahakumbha. Learning from the mistakes, a decision to significantly enhance its ticket booking capacity was taken. With the arrival of the new system, PRS will be able to handle 1,50,000 ticket bookings per minute, up from 32,000 ticket bookings possible right now.
Along with ticket booking capacity, the ticket enquiry capacity will also strengthen from the current 4,00,000 queries per minute to 4 million queries per minute. All of these provisions are under implementation phase right now and will be operational after December 2025.
5. 89% of train tickets are booked online
89% of all the train tickets across different trains and categories are booked online. Passengers can book train tickets either online or through Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters available at train stations.
The high number of tickets booked through online methods displays the success of IRCTC in attracting travellers to its platform with convenience and user-friendliness. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw provided this information in a written response to questions regarding his recent changes related to IRCTC booking and removal of bots.
Once you have booked your ticket, it is important to check the Booking or PNR status online. PNR Check displays your booking status—CNF, WL, RAC, etc.—and informs you if your train chart is prepared.
4. IRCTC’s total verified user crosses 10.01 crore
Till the financial year 2025, IRCTC’s net user volume crossed 10.01 Crore. This is an astonishing number, making it one of the most popular applications for ticket booking in a country which is also the most populous country in the world.
With such a user base, IRCTC isn’t just a platform for booking tickets, but is also one of the World’s largest verified customer bases rivalling major e-commerce platforms.
3. 46.46 crore bottles of Rail Neer
While boarding a train you might have felt thirsty a few times. While looking for packaged water bottles, you must have stumbled upon an entity named Rail Neer. IRCTC owns and operates the packaged water brand Rail Neer.
Rail Neer shattered all the previous production records in 2024-25, with 46.46 Crore bottles being manufactured in the year. RailNeer is able to achieve this feat because of its 20 operational plants and the installed capacity of 40 lakh litres per day.
While buying your water bottle, snacks or receiving your train food delivery at the platform, you need to board off your train. It is advised to check the halt timings of the train with a live train running status. Live train running status provides the most updated and reliable train timings by adjusting to the changes in the train’s movement.
2. IRCTC’s ticket booking records
IRCTC recorded the highest number of tickets booked in a single day on 6th of March 2025 with 16,17,404 booked tickets. IRCTC also broke its record for highest tickets in a minute a few days later. On 22nd of May 2025, IRCTC shattered its record for the highest number of tickets booked in a minute with 31,814 tickets booked.
Two factors explain the huge surge in ticket bookings: first, the start of the summer holiday ticket booking season, and second, the massive cybersecurity measures IRCTC has implemented. IRCTC updated its Advanced Reservation Period from 120 to 60 days and 6th of March fits the date for early May bookings. IRCTC also went on to remove a record number of bots from the platform which led to a huge outpour of authentic passengers into the ticket booking system.
1. IRCTC’s purge on fake IDs
In a major step to reduce the number of fake IDs operating on IRCTC and help the genuine users in booking tickets without any undue struggle, IRCTC launched a massive attack on fake IDs. IRCTC banned over 3.5 Crore fake IDs with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
AI helped IRCTC detect IDs with disposable or short-duration email ids and thus target them efficiently. To make the system more fair for passengers, IRCTC has also barred Railway agents from ticket booking in the first 30 minutes after the opening of tatkal ticket booking.
Conclusion
From selling 27 tickets on its first day of operation to selling 31,814 tickets in under a minute, IRCTC has truly come a long way. IRCTC is showing continued growth in all spheres which includes booking capacity, overall ticket sales, net worth, subsidiaries like Rail Neera and also in terms of cybersecurity and ethical values.
These 10 facts offer only a glimpse of the great developments and innovations IRCTC is driving in the country. By continuously improving its system to serve more passengers, IRCTC will contribute to India’s growth story for decades to come.