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After causing a massive uproar by proposing a move to monetise the digital data of passengers, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will reportedly provide an option to opt out of the data monetisation plan to its customers. 

An ET report citing IRCTC sources said that the data monetisation will happen within the confines of the law. The report added that consultancy firms such as EY and KPMG have expressed interest in IRCTC’s digital data monetisation plan.

The IRCTC issued an Expression of Interest (EoI) last week to bring in a consultant to explore opportunities to monetise data collected from the customers. “IRCTC wishes to engage a consulting firm to help in identification, design, and development and roll-out of data monetization opportunities,” the company added.

Per the tender, IRCTC would hire a consultant to look at basic, public-facing customer data such as name, age, gender, address, number of passengers, class of journey and payment mode. The consultant would also study the digital data systems that helped generate behavioural data.

Issuing a clarification to the stock markets on the EoI, “The consultant will guide IRCTC and Indian Railways on monetization activities and advise on monetization value of Digital Assets observing various Acts or laws including lT Act 2000 and its amendments, User data privacy laws including GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and current ‘Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 of India.” 

However, sources cited above did not call the document floated last week a tender. They noted that it is an Expression of Interest (which is a document that comes before a tender) to hire consultants who would suggest measures to help Indian Railways and the IRCTC monetise their digital assets.

Without a data protection law in place right now, IRCTC’s move was set to cause concerns across the board. The Expression of Interest floated last week caused a huge uproar on social media, with multiple users and non-government organisations such as Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) criticising the move.

The IRCTC officials cited in the aforementioned report said that these digital assets are not the names, Aadhaar numbers, PAN cards, home addresses or bank details of the customers. These assets are general data on how many passengers travel on a particular train on average, how many chose catering and so on.

A PTI report from a few days ago also cited IRCTC sources saying that the company was not looking to sell customer data and will not do so either.

“IRCTC will also develop new businesses on its own platform and will need assistance from market leaders. IRCTC does not store any financial data of its customers at its end, as at the time of online payment for its various services, control is passed on to the respective payment gateway or bank for the payment,” sources were quoted as saying in the PTI report.

The increased speculation saw reports emerge that the IRCTC might backtrack on its plan to monetise digital data. However, for the time being, the company is going ahead with it.