Data privacy: Here's why IRCTC scrapped plan to monetise passenger data

Amidst the furore over data privacy concerns, Indian Railways' catering and ticketing arm IRCTC has rolled back a tender for hiring a consultant to monetise its passenger and freight customer data.

IRCTC officials informed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology led by Lok Sabha MP and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday that it was no longer pursuing the tender. The parliamentary panel had summoned officials of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) following a PTI report on the tender for the appointment of a consultant for digital data monetisation.

"IRCTC has withdrawn the tender in light of the non-approval of the Data Protection Bill," an IRCTC official informed the panel.

The decision to withdraw the tender was taken at the IRCTC annual general meeting on Friday, ahead of the panel hearing.

According to the tender document, the data to be studied will include information captured by the national transporter's various public-facing applications such as “name, age, mobile number, gender, address, e-mail ID, class of journey, payment mode, login or password" and other details.

The IRCTC has more than 10 crore users, of which 7.5 crore are active ones.

Since the announcement, IRCTC had faced a lot of criticism as many raised concerns about passengers’ data safety in the absence of a data protection law in the country.

India's much awaited Personal Data Protection Bill, 2021, was withdrawn earlier this month by the government. The Bill also included data protection, along with other important aspects such as national data governance policy, cybersecurity and data safety among others.

The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) slammed the government on the move by taking to twitter. “Hey train travellers, your data will soon be monetised by the govt. & that too, in the absence of a data protection legislation!”, the non-governmental organisation tweeted.

Earlier in another PTI report, sources told the news agency that IRCTC does not “sell its data and neither has any intention to do so”.

“While the Railways has not officially commented on the tender, highly placed sources said it will be withdrawn considering the fact that the Data Protection Bill has not been finalised,” the news agency reported.