'Around 59% of April-December railway tickets booked via cashless modes'

The central government on Friday informed that around 59 per cent of total railway tickets between April and December 2016 were booked through cashless modes.

"During the period from April, 2016 to December, 2016, approximately 59 per cent of total reserved tickets were booked through cashless mode i.e. through internet or through credit/debit cards across counters," Minister of State (MoS) for Railways Rajen Gohain told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question.

Gohain highlighted that cashless transactions in case of freight business were more than 99 per cent.

He said that the ministry has decided to install 10,000 Point of Sale (POS) machines in association with State Bank of India (SBI) at various locations of Indian railways.

As the POS machines are GPRS-based, the communication system of railways is not required for operation of these machines.

--IANS

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