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Nearly 28% of India's online railway tickets are booked through third-party platforms including Paytm, according to IRCTC Chairman and Managing Director Rahul Himalian, an unusual outside read on the payments major's reach in one of the country's biggest online travel categories.
In an interview, Himalian said nearly 89% of railway tickets are now booked online through IRCTC. Of those, 53% come via the IRCTC Rail Connect mobile app and 17% through its website. Government arrangements account for roughly 2%, while third-party business associates make up the remaining 28%. "28% are through the business associates through B2C, B2B, ICS platform, whether it is MakeMyTrip, Paytm, ixigo, ConfirmTkt," Himalian said. That 28% is a combined figure for all of IRCTC's business associates, not Paytm's individual share. IRCTC has not disclosed a platform-wise split within the channel. Still, it places Paytm inside a critical distribution layer for Indian rail travel. Himalian said 18 lakh to 19 lakh railway tickets are booked daily, of which about 14.88 lakh to 15 lakh are online. The disclosure lands as Paytm reports stronger momentum across its consumer business. In the June quarter (Q1 FY27), consumer UPI GTV rose 45% year-on-year to 5.9 lakh crore, and Monthly Transacting Users climbed by 60 lakh to 8 crore. The company said its consumer UPI growth ran at 2.2 times the industry rate. Paytm's management also flagged a widening gap between user growth and transaction growth as evidence of deeper engagement. On its earnings call, the company noted that monthly transacting users grew about 8% while consumer GTV jumped 45%, a sign that existing users are transacting far more often. Travel sat within a broader consumer story that Paytm described as broad-based and accelerating. Management noted that higher airfares weighed on leisure demand across the industry during the quarter. Against that backdrop, rail stands out as a large and resilient online booking category, which makes IRCTC's distribution network a meaningful part of the wider travel picture. Himalian also wants IRCTC to grow beyond ticketing, into what he called "a trusted digital gateway for the entire travel journey," spanning accommodation, tourism, insurance, food, cabs and local mobility. For Paytm, the mention is a marker of how far its consumer reach now extends, surfacing in a category as large and everyday as railway travel. Railways move millions of bookings a day at a frequency few travel segments match, and a foothold in that flow feeds directly into the consumer engagement Paytm leaned on through the June quarter. (ANI)
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