LTC clients: what a private agent can legally sell them

A government employee walks into your office asking you to book their family's LTC trip and hand them a "package" they can submit for reimbursement. You want the booking. But if you call it an LTC tour package, or quote them a fare that looks like it came from an authorised source, you've promised something you cannot legally deliver, and their claim can get rejected months later with your name on the paperwork.

Half the confusion in the trade is that LTC-80, the old Air India discount fare everyone still half-remembers, technically doesn't exist anymore. The other half is simply not knowing where the government's reimbursement rules stop and normal commercial trip planning starts.

This post draws that line for private agents: what an LTC client can and can't claim through you, the questions to ask before you quote, how to invoice a split booking so their claim survives scrutiny, and the one request you should always refuse.

Is LTC-80 fare still applicable?

No. LTC-80 was Air India's own periodically published discounted domestic fare list for government employees travelling on LTC, and it lost its relevance the moment Air India stopped being a government-owned carrier. The Tata Group completed its takeover of Air India on 27 January 2022, following a winning bid of ₹18,000 crore accepted on 8 October 2021 (Wikipedia, Air India, citing contemporaneous reporting). A Comptroller & Auditor General circular dated 29 November 2024, quoting the Department of Personnel and Training's own clarification, states it directly: "the LTC-80 scheme offered by erstwhile Air India thus has lost its relevance" (CAG Circular No.43/Staff wing/2024, reproduced by staffnews.in).

That same circular points employees instead to DoPT's post-privatisation booking framework: Office Memorandum F.No.31011/12/2022-Estt.A-IV dated 29 August 2022, later modified by OM F.No.31011/11/2023-Pers.Policy A-IV dated 20 October 2023. A further DoPT Master Circular on LTC (ref. DOPT-1752820096240, dated 3 September 2025) consolidates the guidance more recently (reproduced by staffnews.in). Treat the 2022 and 2023 OMs as background on how the rules changed, and the 2025 circular as the more current restatement, but confirm the live text on dopt.gov.in before you quote anything to a client off it. This entire framework was reproduced through a government-employee trade portal in the sources checked for this post, not read directly off a .gov.in page, so verify anything material before you rely on it commercially.

If a package-seller's website still advertises "LTC-80 fare" or an "LTC-80 package," that's stale content, not current law. Don't repeat the phrase to a client, and don't build a product around it.

What LTC rules actually restrict

Government LTC rules restrict exactly two things, and nothing else: which entities can run a reimbursable "tour package," and who can book the reimbursable air fare. Everything outside those two items is a normal commercial sale.

Under Rule 12, Note 2 of the Central Civil Services (LTC) Rules, 1988, as reflected in DoPT's 2025 Master Circular, a tour package qualifies for LTC reimbursement only when it is conducted by the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), a State Tourism Development Corporation (STDC), or IRCTC, with IRCTC's own packages allowed subject to conditions the circular doesn't spell out in the copy available to us (DoPT Master Circular on LTC, reproduced by staffnews.in). A private agency's package, however good, simply does not sit in that list. It cannot be the thing the client submits as their reimbursable "package."

Second, air tickets booked on government account for LTC must go through one of three Authorised Travel Agents named in the 29 August 2022 OM: Balmer Lawrie & Company Limited, Ashok Travels & Tours, and IRCTC (DoPT OM F.No.31011/12/2022-Estt.A-IV, reproduced by staffnews.in). The same OM sets the booking mechanics: employees must choose the "Best Available Fare," generally the cheapest, preferably non-stop, option within a defined three-hour window around the travel date, with roughly a 10% fare tolerance allowed for comfort or convenience, and no more than one ticket held per leg. Notably, the 2025 Master Circular clarifies that employees who are not entitled to air travel but choose to fly anyway are no longer required to mandatorily route that booking through the three authorised agents. As of August 2026, this is the working framework reported for central government employees under the CCS (LTC) Rules, 1988; the exact scope keeps shifting circular to circular, so confirm current terms with the client's own department before you rely on it in a quote.

That's the whole restriction. It covers the label on the package and the channel for the fare. It says nothing about hotels, transfers, sightseeing, meals, or anything else in the trip.

What a private agent can legally sell an LTC client

You cannot sell an LTC client the reimbursable "package" or book their reimbursable fare, but you can sell them everything else in their trip, at a normal commercial margin, with zero LTC restriction attached. Hotels, road transfers, sightseeing, local guides, meals not covered by the government package, travel insurance, upgraded rooms, extra nights, and any add-on the family wants are ordinary services you're free to quote, invoice and deliver like any other client's trip.

This is where most of the real money sits anyway. Government LTC entitlements are famously bare-bones: an ITDC or STDC circuit itinerary, basic transport, basic stays. LTC families still want an actual holiday, better hotels, a private car instead of a shared coach, a day added at the end, and none of that touches the reimbursement rules at all. You're not competing with Balmer Lawrie or IRCTC for the fare booking; you're the agent who builds the trip the family actually wants to take, around whatever the government reimburses separately.

Think of an LTC enquiry the same way you'd think of any corporate travel client with its own booking policy: there's a piece you cannot touch, and a much larger piece you can build and margin normally. The skill is knowing exactly where that line sits, and never letting your invoice or your marketing blur it.

The eligibility script for your counter

Before you quote an LTC enquiry, run this on the call or at the counter. It takes two minutes and prevents a client from later assuming you promised something you didn't.

1. "Are you a central government employee, a PSU employee, a nationalised bank employee, or state government?" (The rules below apply to central government employees under the CCS (LTC) Rules, 1988. PSU, bank, and state rules differ; ask them to check their own department's circular before you quote anything reimbursement-related.)
2. "What class of air or rail travel are you entitled to?"
3. "Which LTC block year and leg is this: hometown, all-India, or the Special Dispensation Scheme for the North East, J&K, Ladakh, or Andaman & Nicobar?"
4. "Will you or your department book the air fare, or are you asking me to book it?"
5. Then the clean handoff line: "We'll quote and confirm your land arrangements, hotels, transfers, sightseeing, meals. Your reimbursable air fare needs to be booked by you, or your department, through the authorised agent. We're not that agent, and we won't claim to be."

That last line is the one that protects you. Say it every time, even when it costs you the fare booking.

How to invoice a split LTC booking

Invoice an LTC client's trip as two clearly separated pieces: your own GST invoice for the land arrangements you actually sold, and a plain note confirming the air fare was booked and paid for separately by the client (or their department) through an authorised agent, with no fare figure appearing on your paperwork at all.

Line item	Who it's billed by	On your invoice
Hotels, transfers, sightseeing, meals, add-ons	Your agency	Yes, full GST invoice
Reimbursable air fare	Client, via Balmer Lawrie / ATT / IRCTC	No, not shown or referenced with an amount
Note for the client's file	Your agency	A line stating the fare was booked separately, no figure

Example: A family of four books a Kerala LTC trip. You quote and invoice ₹85,000 for hotels, a private cab, and sightseeing, GST included per your normal invoice format. The employee separately books their flights through IRCTC's authorised booking channel for a fare they'll claim from their department. Your invoice never mentions that fare amount. The client submits your invoice for the land component (which their department may or may not reimburse under its own rules) and the airline's ticket and payment proof separately for the fare claim.

Keeping the fare number off your own paperwork is an operational safeguard, not a tax ruling: it keeps your invoice from being read as evidence that you booked or priced the reimbursable fare yourself. This isn't settled GST guidance on split invoicing specifically, so confirm the exact invoicing treatment for LTC bookings with your CA before you standardise the format across your counter.

LTC rules for air travel to Andaman & Nicobar

Government employees travelling to the North East Region, Union Territory of J&K, Union Territory of Ladakh, or Andaman & Nicobar Islands can fly instead of taking rail or road under the Special Dispensation Scheme, but reimbursement for an employee not otherwise entitled to air travel is capped at the actual air fare paid or their entitled surface-travel fare, whichever is lower.

The current extension of this scheme, per DoPT OM F.No.31011/15/2022-Estt-A-IV dated 17 September 2024, runs from 26 September 2024 through 25 September 2026 (reproduced by staffnews.in). As of this writing (August 2026), that window closes within weeks. Check dopt.gov.in directly for a further extension before you quote a Special Dispensation trip to a client, or before you assume the scheme is still live at all.

These four circuits, North East, Ladakh, J&K, and Andaman & Nicobar, are where most private-agent LTC enquiries actually land. They're exactly the routes where the reimbursable fare is thin and the government package is basic, and where a family is most motivated to pay you for a properly built private trip around whatever the department reimburses on the flight and the bare package.

When a client asks for a fake fare receipt

Refuse it, every time, and explain why in plain terms: an inflated or fabricated fare receipt isn't a shortcut, it's the exact paper trail an audit is built to catch, and the employee (not you) carries the recovery liability.

A concrete, reported case makes the risk real. Employees who purchased Andaman & Nicobar LTC-80 air tickets from agents other than the three authorised agents, between 26 September 2014 and 19 February 2020, faced audit objections directing full recovery of the fare paid, plus penal interest. The staff federation JCM formally asked DoPT for a one-time relaxation for these cases in a letter dated 30 July 2021 (NC-JCM letter, reported by staffnews.in). That's a specific reported episode covering a specific booking window, not a court ruling and not a universal rule for every booking today, but it shows exactly what "helping" a client with a padded receipt actually risks: years later, an audit recovers the full fare from the employee, with interest, over a booking your agency processed.

Careful: If a client asks you to inflate a fare figure "to help the claim," the correct response is a flat no, followed by the eligibility script above. Put it in writing if they push back. You do not want your invoice or your name anywhere near a claim that gets flagged in an audit years later.

PSU and state government employees don't follow the same rules

Everything above describes the Central Civil Services (LTC) Rules, 1988 and central DoPT circulars, which apply to central government employees. PSU staff, nationalised bank employees, All India Services officers, and state government employees frequently run on separate LTC schemes with their own authorised agents, block years, and reimbursement caps.

Never assume a "government employee" walking into your office is covered by the rules in this post. Always ask which department or organisation they belong to, and ask them to check their own circular or DDO (Drawing and Disbursing Officer) before you quote or promise anything tied to reimbursement. This same discipline matters whenever you're dealing with institutional or government-linked buyers generally: the rules are never as uniform as "government client" suggests, and assuming otherwise is how a quote turns into a dispute months later.

Common questions

What is an LTC tour package?

It's a tour that qualifies for LTC reimbursement specifically because it's conducted by ITDC, a State Tourism Development Corporation, or IRCTC (subject to conditions not detailed in the sources for this post). A trip built by a private agency, whatever it includes, does not qualify as an LTC tour package under this rule, even if it covers identical destinations and inclusions.

Who are the LTC authorised travel agents?

For booking reimbursable air tickets on government account, the three named agents under the 29 August 2022 DoPT OM are Balmer Lawrie & Company Limited, Ashok Travels & Tours, and IRCTC. A private travel agency is not on this list and cannot book that reimbursable fare on the employee's behalf, though where else your agency actually sources flights for the client's non-reimbursed travel is entirely your normal commercial call.

Can LTC be claimed for international travel?

Nothing in the sources for this post extends LTC reimbursement to international travel; the scheme as described covers domestic tour packages and domestic air/rail/road travel within India, including the Special Dispensation routes to the North East, J&K, Ladakh, and Andaman & Nicobar. Treat any international-LTC claim a client raises as something to verify against their own department's rules, not something this framework supports.

When can LTC be claimed?

The current LTC block year runs 2022-2025, split into two-year sub-blocks (2022-23 and 2024-25), with the next four-year block running 2026-2029, per the 2025 DoPT Master Circular. A claim must be submitted within three months of completing the return journey, and any LTC advance drawn (capped at four-fifths of the estimated fare) must be refunded if the outward journey doesn't start within 30 days of drawing it.

The short version

• LTC-80 is dead in practice: it ended with Air India's 27 January 2022 handover to Tata Group, and DoPT/CAG guidance confirms the old scheme "has lost its relevance." Stop using the phrase in quotes or marketing.
• Government LTC rules restrict only two things: the reimbursable "tour package" (ITDC, an STDC, or IRCTC only) and the reimbursable air fare (Balmer Lawrie, Ashok Travels & Tours, or IRCTC only).
• Everything else in the trip, hotels, transfers, sightseeing, meals, upgrades, add-ons, is a normal commercial sale you can quote and invoice with zero LTC restriction.
• Invoice LTC clients as two separate pieces: your own GST invoice for the land arrangements, and a note (no figure) that the fare was booked separately through an authorised agent. Confirm the exact treatment with your CA.
• The Special Dispensation Scheme for the North East, J&K, Ladakh, and Andaman & Nicobar is dated only through 25 September 2026 as of this writing; check dopt.gov.in for any extension before quoting it.
• Never inflate or fabricate a fare receipt for a client's claim. A reported 2014-2020 Andaman booking episode shows audits can recover the full fare, with penal interest, from the employee years later.
• PSU, bank, All India Services, and state government employees often follow different rules from the CCS (LTC) Rules, 1988 described here. Always confirm which scheme actually applies before you quote.