Reportedly booking train tickets online has now gotten costlier with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation restoring the service charges and convenience on e-tickets. As per report the railways will now charge Rs 15 for non-AC and Rs 30 for the AC coaches’ tickets from September 1. Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be applicable separately on each ticket.
Furthermore for payment made through UPI or BHIM applications, the convenience fee will be lesser Rs 10 and Rs 20 for non-AC classes and AC classes, respectively and till the software for UPI/BHIM is developed, payment through UPI/BHIM will be incentivized by offering prizes through a lottery on a regular basis. Earlier the railways used to levy Rs 20 for tickets for non air-conditioned coaches and Rs 40 for tickets for air-conditioned coaches as service charges. In November 2016, the service charges were withdrawn after demonetization to promote digital payments.
Moreover a railway official told that after the service charges were discontinued, the IRCTC saw a drop of over 26% in Internet ticketing revenue. Perhaps the online booking of tickets by rail passengers has grown exponentially and over 70% of the tickets are now being booked online. The growth in this activity has been an impressive 12.5% year on year in recent years. Previously in August, the Railway board had announced that the IRCTC had made a ‘detailed case’ for the restoration of service charges and the matter was examined by authorities.
