Indian Railways will not charge service fee on payments made via cards, while purchasing train tickets at railway platforms, reports The Hindu. Service charge levied on net banking and card payments for tickets booked on IRCTC’s online ticket portal remain the same. It's worth noting that earlier this year, the Union cabinet had decided to remove surcharge and service tax on online payments charged by government organizations and other ministries. But IRCTC's revenues would get impacted by the move as banks charge an interchange fee while handling card transactions online, which ends up being part of the service charge that is transferred to consumers. IRCTC portal charges a service fee of Rs 20 (including additional tax) for second & sleeper class tickets and Rs 40 (including additional tax) for first class & AC tickets. IRCTC’s online site claims to receive 4.5 to 5 lakh bookings per day on an average. Other IRCTC Tie ups for online payment Tie up with mRupee: In February, Tata Teleservices's subsidiary MMP Mobi Wallet Payment Systems, which offers a money transfer and payment service ‘mRupee’ partnered with the IRCTC to enable users to use its wallet to book tickets. IRCTC will continue offering other modes of payment along with the mRupee wallet. Tie up with Paytm: In December 2015, mobile commerce player Paytm and IRCTC had tied up to let IRCTC passengers use Paytm to pay for e-catering services, in addition to the currently existing online payment and cash on delivery modes. In May 2015, IRCTC said that it will start offering Paytm wallet as an…
