Adani's Trainman purchase: IRCTC responds to Congress' jibe, says acquisition 'not a threat'

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on Sunday clarified that Adani’s acquisition of the online train booking app Trainman would not challenge IRCTC’s domain and would only complement its operations. 

The corporation said so in response to Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Twitter, who claimed that the Adani purchase would compete with the IRCTC. "First competition with IRCTC, then takeover," Ramesh had said.  

IRCTC was quick to respond to Jairam Ramesh’s tweet, labelling it as “misleading”.  

“This is a misleading statement,” the corporation said.  

“Trainman is one of the 32 authorized B2C (Business to Customer) partners of IRCTC. Changing the stake won't make any difference. All integration and operations will continue to be done through IRCTC. It will only complement IRCTC and is not a threat or challenge to IRCTC,” it added.  

Trainman is one of the 32 IRCTC-authorised train booking partners. Trainman is used for train booking and accessing other train-related information. The company was founded as a start-up in 2011 by IIT-Roorkee graduates Vineet Chirania and Karan Kumar. 

Adani Digital Labs, a wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Enterprises, announced the acquisition of the online booking platform Trainman on Friday.  

“Adani Digital Labs Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company has signed a Share Purchase Agreement in relation to its proposed acquisition of 100 per cent stake in Stark Enterprises Private Limited, also known as Trainman, an online train booking and information platform,” the Adani Group informed via a stock exchange notification.