On IRCTC

Last week I was watching 'Innovation at work' program in CNBC-TV18, which covered some case studies done in India on the field of innovation. It was interesting to see IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd) as one of the cases, which showed how they built the online reservation system (http://irctc.co.in) as 'incremental' basis. Started off in the year 2000 with mailing the printed tickets (i-tickets) to customers, IRCTC has come a long way by offering multiple services like e-ticketing,package tours,budget cab booking and season tickets. Check out some their list of achievements here.

Yesterday I was traveling back from my native place to Bangalore in a newly introduced train. In order to confirm train timings I called 139,which turned out to be pleasant experience. There was a well designed IVR system and the support staff was providing a professional quality service in the local language. Upon digging more I learned that IRCTC has outsourced support functionality to a private firm.

Public sector firms have a long way to go, but it was nice to see professional service provided by them.

Related post: Indian Railways : The sleeping 'Giant' ?

Comments

Bala Girisaballa said…
You are right about IRCTC - Their UI can be better but overall, this is an example of function over form!.
11:33 AM
Piyush said…
Try out http://www.cleartrip.com/trains to book train tickets
1:47 AM
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