IRCTC withdraws tender for applications to monetise customer data

The company believed that the data would help potential customers, as well as hospitality, energy, health and infrastructure and tourism

Facing criticism, and advocacy groups asserting compromise of citizens’ privacy, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) withdrew the tender floated by it to monetise its customer data.

The IRCTC informed that because the government withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill 2018, the corporation also pulled back the tender that it had floated to appoint a consultant to help it monetise customers’ data.

The Indian Railways’ ticketing arm floated an e-tender on July 29, calling for consultants to suggest ideas that could help with the monetisation of customers data—including their name, age, mobile number, gender, address, email ID, average total number of passengers on a ticket, their tier class of journey, payment mode, login/password and freight services—and identify a business model.

The company believed that passengers and freight data would help potential customers, as well as hospitality, energy, health and infrastructure and tourism sectors.

Though the company claimed that the decision to monetize data was in its nascent stage, it would follow all privacy laws. Yet the tender raised concerns of privacy, with digital advocacy groups decrying the move.

Many activists, who are fighting for individual data privacy, urged the government to withhold the tender till the government finalises revised the data protection law.

Earlier, while withdrawing the data bill, the government said it would bring in a new bill taking into account the latest challenges related to data privacy.