Indian Railways to introduce “Book Now, Pay Later”

Indian Railways will soon provide the ‘buy tickets now and pay later’ service for any Express train, an IRCTC official said on Thursday. This move aims to ease commuter hassles and avoiding long queues for buying train tickets.

According to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Ltd official, IRCTC has collaborated with a Mumbai-based firm ePayLater for adding the new service option wherein passengers would be able to buy tickets from the IRCTC website and pay later.

With this service, the ticket can be booked five days prior to the journey with a service charge of 3.5 percent and be paid it in the next 14 days. This option was valid only on e-tickets.

In order to ensure that the customers pay the ticket amount, the official said, “The way a credit card is issued after evaluating the CIBIL score of a customer, the same procedure will be followed. Those who want to opt for this service have to give their name, email ID, mobile number, their PAN card or Aadhaar details.” EPaylater will first check the transaction history of the passenger on the basis of personal details provided. Ticket will be assigned under the new service only after ensuring a satisfactory transaction history.

The official further said, “The purpose of this service is not to earn money, but to provide better facility to passengers. It is kind of a short-term loan that we will give to the passengers.” Once the customer gets approval to use the feature, they would be sent an OTP (one-time password) to enable them to use the service.

This is yet another innovative change that the Indian Railways are witnessing aimed at providing a better customer experience.