The Indian Railways, on the 1st of September, restored service charge on e tickets bought from the Indian Railways Catering Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website.
According to an IRCTC release, non AC tickets purchased through IRCTC will have an additional charge of Rs. 15 levied on every ticket, whereas Rs. 30 will be taken as an additional charge on AC tickets.
The IRCTC released an order on the 30th of August, after approval from the Railway Board to restore the service charges on e tickets. Apart from the service charges, the passengers also have to pay the Goods and Services Tax (GST) separately.
According to sources, to promote the Digital India campaign, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew service charges in 2017.
Previously, the IRCTC used to charge Rs. 20 on non AC e tickets and Rs. 40 on AC tickets.
The decision to implement service charges was taken to recover the loss in the financial year 2016-2017. In 2017, due to the BJP waiving off the service charges on e tickets, the revenue from the e tickets witnessed a 26 % loss. Although the then Finance Minister said the decision to waive off service charges was temporary, the Central Government did not restore the service charges, until the 1st of September 2019.
Stay tuned for further updates.
