Govt to reimburse Rs 500-cr service charge loss to IRCTC

Service charge was discontinued from Nov 26, last year to boost digital transactions

Giving relief to government-owned Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the ministry of finance has decided to reimburse the loss of the Railways' subsidiary due to the waiver of service charge for online booking of train tickets.

This service charge was exempted from November 23, 2016, to boost digital transactions. Before demonetisation, IRCTC used to charge Rs 40 a ticket for bookings in air-conditioned classes and Rs 20 per ticket in the sleeper class. The finance ministry is likely to reimburse about Rs 500 crore to IRCTC annually.

"The railways were demanding a rollback in this regard or a