Highlight
- irctc plans to sell data of users
- IRCTC seeks to monetize user data, seeks Rs 1,000 in revenue
- IRCTC has also issued tender in this regard.
IRCTC Data Monetization TenderIndian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is seeking to generate revenue of Rs 1,000 crore as it plans to sell (monetize) user data including customer data of passenger services as well as freight services .
According to reports, the ticket booking arm of Indian Railways has floated a tender to appoint consultants for digital data monetization.
In an IRCTC tender last month, “Indian Railways seeks to monetize data in customer/vendor applications and internal applications of Indian Railways… to generate revenue and enhance convenience and further improve services.”
“IRCTC intends to engage a consulting firm to assist in the identification, design and development and roll-out of data monetization opportunities,” the tender said.
After this development, the value of IRCTC shares increased from Rs 712 to Rs 746.75
According to the Internet Freedom Foundation, “The Consultant will be expected to study passenger, freight and parcel business data as well as any vendor-related data from Indian Railways applications.”
“As per the tender, the customer data to be studied includes, inter alia, ‘name, age, mobile number, gender, address, e-mail id, number of passengers, class of travel, payment mode, login/ password,’ in addition to behavioral data such as payment and booking modes, frequency of travel, etc.”
The tender is suggested to refer to:
- IT Act, 2000 and its amendments
- User data privacy laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation
- Current Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 of India!
Listed tasks for the appointed consultant include:
- Separation of monetizable data sets
- Identifying market potential internationally
- Creating a road-map for data monetization of digital data
According to reports, Indian Railways has more than 100 terabytes of passenger data.
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