If you’ve made any recent bookings on IRCTC, you probably have noticed an additional (but not old) fee levied on the sum. Well, that’s the earlier struck fee called Service Charge or Convenience fee.
Though it made hundreds of crores losses to IRCTC, this initiative has helped India to make ticket booking online jump by more than 25%.
Starting from September 1, 2019, India’s biggest employer is all set to charge their e-ticketing users the additional sum on their bookings.
The new rates are of Rs.15 for non-AC and Rs.30 for AC coach bookings. These rates are 25% less than their previously levied prices, which are of Rs.20 and Rs.40 for non-AC and AC bookings. Yet, IRCTC is sure about its revenue boosts.
After demonization, IRCTC is one of those organizations that the Modi-led government has promised to sway some fees on digital transactions.
No convenience fee: A minor program from BJP in 2016 to drive the digital payments. While this may seem to work well with the users, IRCTC has made enough losses to make an appeal for restarting it. After giving up these service charges in 2016, IRCTC had made losses of 30% nearly on their online revenues.
After submitting a detailed report to the railway board, IRCTC was given the green signal to restart charging these fees and yeah, along with GST! GST would be charged separately. This move was even supported by the finance ministry as the waiver program is for temporary only. And now it is reasonable to restart.
As said, there will be a fee of Rs.10 and Rs.20 as a Convenience fee for booking through UPI/BHIM applications. Furthermore, though being charged, people paying through UPI/BHIM shall be incentivized by prizes like lotteries regularly, until the software up-gradation helps to settle them low and accordingly.