Passengers can now book Rail Tickets from counters through UPI/BHIM App Payment System

With an aim to boost cashless transactions and passenger friendly measures, Railways Ministry on 30 November 2017 introduced the facility for booking railway tickets from railway counters through payment systems like Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) App.

This facility will allow passengers to book reserved tickets from Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters and book Season Tickets (MST and QST) from Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) counters.

The facility of payment through UPI/BHIM for booking of e-tickets online on IRCTC Website has already been implemented earlier. Now, this facility is extended to the tickets being booked from railway counters.

Highlights of the new facility
• Passengers can use this facility with effect from 1 December 2017.
• Presently, no transaction charges will be levied for this facility for a period of 3 months from passengers.
• It will be implemented all over Indian Railways on all PRS counters and UTS counters.
• This facility is an addition to the digital payment options already available to railway passengers.
• It is safe to use as there is no need to share bank account or credit/debit card number.
• It is easy to use and supports payment through multiple banks on real time basis.
• It will reduce hassles of cash handling and reconciliation and settlement will be simplified.

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Process of booking Rail Tickets from counters through UPI/BHIM App Payment System for Passengers
• Give travel details to the counter person and know the travel fare.
• Choose option to pay through UPI/BHIM and provide Virtual Payment Address (VPA) to initiate the transaction in the terminal.
• Accept the payment request you will receive on the linked mobile number to confirm payment.
• Passenger's linked account will be debited with the fare amount.
• Once the transaction is successful and this is verified on the system, counter person will print the ticket and the passenger can collect the ticket.

Unified Payments Interface introduced by banks

Unified Payments Interface (UPI)
• UPI integrates multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application by merging several banking features, enabling seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one place.
• It caters to the "Peer to Peer" collect request which can be scheduled and paid as per requirement and convenience.
• For convenience of the users, a UPI App called BHIM has been developed.

BHIM App
• Mobile App BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) has been developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), based on the Unified Payment Interface (UPI).
• BHIM is inter-operable with other Unified Payment Interface (UPI) applications and bank accounts.

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