NEW DELHI: Now passengers booking rail tickets online can opt for cash on delivery option and tickets will be brought to their doorstep at a minimal charge.
In order to capture all sections of customers, IRCTC, a railway PSU, for the first time is introducing Pay-on-Delivery (PoD) option for buying railway e-tickets. ‘Pay on Delivery’ payment option would allow the user to pay at the time of delivery through any payment mode including cash.
IRCTC through its Website and Mobile App has now introduced Pay-on-Delivery as one of the payment options for its customers. Security element attached to revealing their card details on Websites / Apps has often acted as a hindrance to Indian Consumers and move is expected to make many passengers shifting to book online ticket.
“Delivering tickets at the consumer’s doorstep by offering the pay-on-delivery option will facilitate those consumers who book through travel agents to move to online medium. It will also certainly encourage people who book at railway reservation counters to move to online medium as there is a cost and effort associated to reach out the reservation counters,” said an IRCTC official.
The service will be available in more than 600 cities/towns covering more than 4000 pin codes and would be initially available five days before the departure date.
The customer will have to do a onetime registration for availing PoD as a payment option. Customer will have to tender either ADHAAR or PANCARD to avail this payment option. Payment on Delivery Charges shall be Rs.90 plus service for transaction up to Rs 5,000 and Rs 120 plus service tax for transactions valuing more than Rs 5,000.
In case of refusal/cancellation before delivery, the customer will be liable to pay the cancellation and delivery charges.
“Strict action as per law may be initiated if the customer defaults to pay the booking/cancellation charges and the user id will be deactivated. Customer’s CIBIL score would also be influenced in case of non-payment of dues. The refunds against cancellation would be tendered to users’ bank account only,” the official added.