An earlier call for bids to employ a consultant to monetize passenger data was withdrawn by the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). A top IRCTC officer gave the briefing on Friday to the parliamentary panel headed by Congressman Shashi Tharoor. In the latter half of this month, the railway firm made the tender announcement. Concerns over privacy involving the monetization of passenger and freight customer data sparked debate over the tender. As of right now, IRCTC has announced that it is abandoning the tender.
Rajni Hasija, the MD and chair of the IRCTC, and other executives appeared before the Shashi Tharoor-led Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology on Friday. Following reports of the tender for the hiring of a consultant for digital data monetisation, the panel summoned IRCTC executives.
The corporation is no longer pursuing the tender, the IRCTC representatives told the panel. IRCTC informed the panel that it has withdrawn the tender as a result of the Data Protection Bill's rejection, according to PTI.
At the IRCTC annual general meeting on Friday, which was arranged before the summons in front of the panel, the railway ticketing firm made the decision to revoke the tender.
IRCTC aimed to research and monetize data containing information such as "name, age, mobile number, gender, address, e-mail ID, class of voyage, payment option, login or password" and other facts through the tender, which was released in the second half of August.
