India is fast moving towards becoming a cashless economy and the Narendra Modi led government has come up with a number of initiatives to make this possible. When it comes to the Indian railways, they have implemented many schemes to make India a cashless economy. In this blog, we will discuss what these initiatives taken up by the Indian Railways to promote Digitization are.
One of the important initiatives taken up by the Indian Railways to promote digital payments in India is it allows the payments over the official web portal of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) through a number of cashless mediums, like debit/credit cards, cash cards, e-wallets, and Unified Payment Interface (UPI)/Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) and so on. To boost payments, it has withdrawn service charge on online booking of tickets.
The Indian railways has also partnered with State Bank of India to set up 10,000 Point of Sale (POS) machines across various locations such as PRS, UTS ticket booking counters, and parcel or goods locations to accept card transactions.
Indian Railways has also started accepting digital payments via UPI/BHIM for over-the-counter ticket bookings. To encourage more people to do such transactions, it also offers 5% discount on the basic fare.
As many people in India use smartphones, the Indian Railways has allowed customers to book tickets using their mobile phones and payments can be made through debit or credit cards, mobile wallets, net banking and so on.
To promote cashless transactions for foreigners, Indian Railways has also started accepting international debit/credit cards for ticket booking.
See Also: Railways To Adopt Artificial Intelligence System to Monitor Railway Kitchens
Indian Railways has introduced numerous Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs), to promote the sale of unreserved railway tickets. Under this system, payment for tickets can be made through smart cards. On every smart card recharge, 3% bonus will be given to users. Railways also offer 0.5% discount on season tickets purchased via digital medium like mobile wallet, credit cards or debit cards. This offer is valid up to 31st August 2018.
To secure your train journey, the railways has introduced an optional travel insurance scheme with coverage of Rs 10 Lakhs at a premium of Rs 0.92 per person. You can avail this service if you book your tickets through the IRCTC web portal. Now, this insurance is provided free of cost and this offer is valid till August 31st, 2018.
Customers will get a discount of 5% on the booking of retiring rooms via digital means.
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