Birdres partners with IRCTC

Company Brief

Mumbai, July 15, 2009

Birdres, a Business to Business distribution channel from the Bird Group, with content availability of various travel verticals, today announced strategic partnership with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a public sector company owned by the Ministry of Railways, Government of India. Under the partnership, travel agents will have access to IRCTC inventory on the Birdres portal. This is the first time that IRCTC has partnered with any Global Distribution System (GDS) provider.

Apart from expanding the reach for IRCTC, it will provide travel agents with a single access platform for railway bookings. Travel agents need not use a credit card for their transactions. A pre-paid amount needs to be deposited with IRCTC thereby ensuring transaction security. Online ticket bookings with the railways have grown more than 100% in the last year with over 25% of the entire railway ticket bookings being over the internet. This initiative is in sync with the recent announcements during the Rail Budget to make railway tickets available at more outlets for consumer convenience. Ankur Bhatia, Managing Director, Amadeus India said, "About 75 million passengers booked their tickets on IRCTC, however a large proportion of the potential rail consumers do not have access to the internet or credit cards and debit cards. Therefore, there is a need to increase the spread of IRCTC to a wider consumer group."

"Amadeus has over 20,000 booking agents who help millions of consumers in every part of the country meet their travel requirements. This partnership will help address this distribution challenge for the masses of the country".

Features and benefits:

1) Simpler and easy booking process

2) Real time inventory availability

3) Convenient payment options

4) Excellent back end support through 24x7 helpdesk

5) Online MIS reports on performance, productivity & accounting

6) Enhanced security with fraud prevention

7) Back office integration

For further information, please contact:

Six Degrees PR

Anika Gupta

Mobile : +919819235328

Email: anikag@sixdegreespr.co.in