BusinessStandard: Sify is known for its large chain of cybercafe’s across the country. They have a whopping 3,400 iWay cyber cafes across 154 cities in India. Now with that kind of reach the to internet accessing public in India it always surpriised me why they haven’t leveraged this reach. I guess part of the reason was that their cybercafe’s are a huge franchisee network and keeping control and syncronisation among all of them is virtually impossible. But here is some news that makes me feel that Sify is finally finding innovative ways to leverage this huge reach that they have created. Sify has entered into a tie-up with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to enable customers book rail tickets online against cash payment.
Earlier, e-bookings from IRCTC’s website were available to customers who had a credit card or a net banking facility (cash card option), which limited the e-booking facility to only 25,000 customers.
Initially this cash payment facility will be tested in Delhi and it is expected to be fully operational across all sify cafe’s in 6 months.
As far as revenue sharing is concerned there will be a total surcharge of Rs 40 on second-class ticket out of which IRCTC would get Rs 25 and Sify would earn Rs 15. In case of II-tier and III-a/c tickets, the charges are Rs 65 of which IRCTC would get Rs 40 and Sify Rs 25.
The IRCTC MD P K Goel said that he expected to sell atleast 1 lakh e-tickets through the sify cybercafe’s. This means a revenue generation for Sify of anything between 15 lakhs to 25 lakhs! Plus the added footfalls in the cybercafe’s which could turn into revenue from internet access! Now that’s what i call a smart move in business..
