Lok Sabha Question No. 1903 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-03
Subject: Booking at Tatkal Tickets
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Sukanta Majumdar, Khagen Murmu

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1903 TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.07.2019

## BOOKING OF TATKAL TICKETS

1903. DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR: SHRI KHAGEN MURMU:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  is  aware  that  during  unsuccessful booking of Tatkal railway ticket through IRCTC Portal, cancellation  charges  are  levied  by  the  system  while  ticket  was cancelled by the system not by the user;
- (b) if so, the details thereof including such cases reported during 2018-19 Financial Year and the current Financial Year;
- (c)  whether  the  Government  is  aware  that  Payment  Gateways charges are also deducted during unsuccessful booking of Tatkal railway ticket through IRCTC Portal;
- (d)  if  so,  the  details  thereof  including  Government's  reaction thereto;
- (e)  whether  the  Government  is  aware  that  this  way  users  are losing  faith  in  digital  transaction  in  Railways  which  is  likely  to derail the PM's digital India Initiatives; and
- (f) if so, the details thereof and the action taken thereon?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

- (a) to (f): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (f)  OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1903 BY DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR AND SHRI  KHAGEN  MURMU  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON 03.07.2019 REGARDING BOOKING OF TATKAL TICKETS

(a):    In  order  to  facilitate  the  urgent  travel  needs  of  passengers, limited  number  of  berths/seats  are  earmarked  under  Tatkal  Quota. These  berths  are  booked  on  first  come  first  served  basis  both through Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) as well  as  Railway  reservation  counters.  On  exhaustion  of  confirmed Tatkal  accommodation,  waitlisted  Tatkal  tickets  are  issued.  The status of such waitlisted Tatkal tickets get updated against cancellation of tickets booked prior to that ticket. This is a dynamic process. In case the status of Tatkal e-tickets, continues to remain fully  waitlisted even after the preparation of first reservation chart, then  the  names  of  all  such  passengers  booked  on  that  Passenger Name Record (PNR) are dropped from the reservation chart. In such cases, refund of fare after deduction of nominal clerkage charges is credited  directly  to  the  account  from  which  booking  transaction  is done. Uniform clerkage charges are levied on tickets booked through IRCTC as well as Railway reservation counters. In case of e-tickets, due to auto-refund facility for fully waitlisted e-tickets, the passengers are saved from the botheration of applying for refunds by approaching the Railway reservation counters.

(b):  The details of fully waitlisted Tatkal e-tickets dropped from the reservation  chart  and  granted  refund  of  fare  automatically  is  as under:-

| Financial Year     |   Number of fully waitlisted Tatkal e-tickets given auto-refund (in lakh) |
|--------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2018-19            |                                                                     31.03 |
| 2019-20 (upto May) |                                                                      8.7  |

- (c) & (d): Payment Gateway charges are levied by the banks on its users while booking of e-tickets, including Tatkal. This is collected by  the  banks  irrespective  of  the  booking  status  of  the  ticket. However,  no  online  transaction  charges  are  levied  by  the  banks  in case of cancellation of tickets. Also, payment gateway charges are not  levied  by  banks  in  case  of  failed  transactions  i.e.  cases  where payment is deducted but ticket is not issued.
- (e) & (f): No, Sir. Online ticketing through IRCTC is gaining popularity and its share vis-à-vis counter tickets is increasing. During Financial Year  2018-19,  online  tickets  booked  through  IRCTC  accounted  for 70% of total reserved tickets booked.  Various measures have also been  undertaken  for  promotion  of  digital  transactions  over  Indian Railways including the following:-
- i. The payment for tickets booked through IRCTC website is made through various cashless modes such as net banking, through credit/debit cards, cash cards, e-wallets and Unified Payment Interface (UPI)/Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM).
- ii. To  incentivise  payment  through  digital  means,  service charge on online booking of tickets was withdrawn for the tickets  booked  from  23.11.2016.  The  facility  has  been extended upto 30.09.2019.
- iii. User friendly Mobile App is also available for online booking of tickets wherein payment can be made through credit/debit cards, net banking etc.
- iv. International  credit/debit  cards  issued  outside  India  are accepted for booking of e-tickets through IRCTC website.

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