Booking tatkal railway tickets now easy under IRCTC's 'book now, pay later' option

Customers can book their Tatkal railway ticket and choose to pay later under a new scheme announced by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp (IRCTC).

While booking a tatkal ticket, IRCTC users will have the option to get the ticket delivered to their doorstep and pay the bill via cash, debit card or credit card at the time of delivery, said a release by IRCTC payment provider Anduril Technologies.

Until now, the users had to make the payment while booking a tatkal ticket. The payment process extended the time taken to book the ticket considering the rush for the limited seats under tatkal, and made it difficult to secure a confirmed ticket. Majority of the tickets under Tatkal quota get booked within minutes.

Now, the users can use 'pay on delivery' option to save payment time, increasing their chances of booking a confirmed ticket under the Tatkal quota.

The digital ticket is delivered at the same time through SMS or email and the hard copy of the ticket is delivered at the doorstep within 24 hours.

The IRCTC website also gives the users to book tickets under general reservation and pay the amount after 15 days through 'ePaylater', a pilot project powered by Arthashastra Fintech.

However, a service charge of 3.5 percent is levied on the transaction amount on using 'ePaylater.

The user can choose either of the option when it is displayed on the payment page of IRCTC website while booking a ticket.

The two options, which is in line with government's push towards digital payment, is likely to further boost the online booking of tickets.