IRCTC iPay: IRCTC To Allow Instant Refund On Cancellation

Indian Railways has made a significant modification to its refund policy for internet ticket bookings. Passengers who purchased rail tickets on the IRCTC website or app and later cancelled them will no longer have to wait two to three days for a refund. Customers who want to make further bookings on the same or following day can do so without worrying about IRCTC crediting the refund amount to their bank account.

Passengers who book tickets through IRCTC's payment gateway, IRCTC-ipay, would receive a refund instantly after cancelling them, according to a report. As part of the national government's Digital India Campaign, IRCTC-ipay was launched in 2019. In this line, the IRCTC has recently revamped its website.

IRCTC i Pay with Auto Pay

IRCTC has released a stunning new feature called "IRCTC iPay" that allows users of the IRCTC Website / Mobile App to get a quick refund. IRCTC has added the "AutoPay" capability to its "i-Pay" payment gateway.

A user must enable debit to his UPI bank account / other payment instrument through a mandate facility, which puts a lien on his payment instrument, in order to use this service.

The AutoPay feature ensures improved ticket booking dependability through a pre-authorized mandate by saving the user time when entering payment instrument details. This functionality also helps to reduce the time it takes to get a refund for Tatkal bookings that are still on the backlog and are subject to auto cancellation.

IRCTC i PAY Tatkal Booking

Passengers will be able to quickly book tatkal and ordinary tickets, as well as cancel them, thanks to improved arrangements. The official further stated that, in light of the growing number of train passengers, the IRCTC has enhanced its user interface as well as the IRCTC-ipay feature, resulting in faster ticket booking.

Only the cancellation charges are recovered from the transaction and the mandate is issued in waitlisted cases of Tatkal bookings, where the booking remains waitlisted even after preparation of the final chart.

This feature comes in handy when a ticket does not get booked even after payment is deducted from the user's bank account, or when a Tatkal waitlisted ticket stays waitlisted even after the chart is prepared and the waitlist ticket is removed from charting. In such circumstances, the user's account will be debited just for the IRCTC Service Charge, Cancellation Charge, and Payment Gateway Charges.

How to book train tickets through IRCTC-ipay?

Step 1: Visit IRCTC website (www.irctc.co.in)
Step 2: Enter journey details
Step 3: Select the train details
Step 4: Log into the website using your credentials
Step 5: Enter passenger details
Step 6: Choose the IRCTC ipay option
Step 7: Click on Pay and Book
Step 8: Enter payment details such as credit card/debit card/UPI details

The ticket will be immediately booked after payment, and an SMS/email confirmation will be given.