Here Are The Service Charges Levied By IRCTC For Ticket Bookings

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the e-ticketing arm of Indian Railways, has restored service charges on online ticket bookings. IRCTC now charges a fee of Rs 15 and Rs 30 for booking railway tickets online for non-AC and AC classes, respectively. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) are applicable separately over these charges. However, for payments done via Unified Payments Interface (UPI) or BHIM applications, the convenience fee stands at Rs 10 per ticket for non-AC classes. For AC classes, the service charge stands at Rs 20 per ticket on bookings done via UPI or BHIM apps.

Here are 5 things to know about IRCTC service charges on online ticket bookings and other details:

1. Last month, the Railway Board gave its approval to the IRCTC to restore the service charges. 
In a letter dated August 30, the board said the IRCTC had made a "detailed case" for the restoration of service charges and the matter had been examined by the "competent authority".

2. It said that the finance ministry had contended that the service charges waiver was a temporary one and that the railway ministry could restart it. 

3. Earlier, Indian Railways used to levy a service charge of Rs 20 on every non-AC e-ticket and Rs 40 for every AC e-ticket. 

4. The convenience fee on online tickets bought through IRCTC was waived three years ago to promote digital payments in the country.

5. Tickets on internet can be booked from 00:20 hrs to 23:45 hrs on all days, according to IRCTC website- irctc.co.in. A maximum of 6 tickets can be booked by an individual user in a month via IRCTC's website/app. However, the ceiling limit has been raised to 12 tickets for the individual users, where accounts are verified through Aadhaar ID and one of the passengers in the ticket booked is verifiable through Aadhaar.