IRCTC Update: The Indian Railways on Thursday shared new refund rules for cancelled train tickets. In a notification, railway department announced that train tickets booked through unauthorised agents or scripting can be released without refund. So, passengers should input correct mobile number for getting timely alerts on booked journey.
Second Class (2S) Reserved Tickets: Refund Rules
The Indian Railways said that Second class (2S) reserved ticket holders are advised to check their PNR status (‘Trains’ menu > ‘PNR Enquiry’) before journey. If 2S reserved ticket holders are receiving PNR status as ‘Route class deleted/booking not allowed as given class for the route is deleted’ on PNR enquiry, they may cancel such tickets to get full refund.
OTP based refund system for train ticket
Earlier, Indian Railways introduced a new OTP-based refund system for tickets booked through authorised railway ticketing agents. This is aimed to bring in a transparent and customer friendly refund system for reserved e-tickets which are cancelled or which are fully waitlisted dropped tickets. This new system will be implemented by Indian Railways PSU, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC).
How does it work
The OTP (One time Password) will be received as SMS on the registered mobile number of the passenger (provided by the customer/passenger to the agent at the time of booking). The customer/passenger will be required to share the OTP with the agent who booked the ticket, for getting the refund amount. Through this user friendly facility, passenger will come to know about the exact refund amount received by agent on his behalf against cancelled ticket or fully waitlisted dropped ticket.
The objective of the scheme is to streamline the cancellation refund process further so that cancellation amount is refunded timely to the customer by the agents.
The OTP-based refund for cancelled tickets or fully waitlisted dropped tickets will be processed only if the ticket is booked through IRCTC authorised agents.
Customers are advised:
- To provide correct mobile no. of one of the passengers to the IRCTC-authorised agent at the time of booking reserved rail e-tickets.
- To ensure that the agent records his or her mobile number correctly at the time of booking reserved rail e-tickets.
- Only IRCTC authorised agents are permitted to book reserved rail e-tickets to the customer
GST: IRCTC train ticket refund rules
Refund of Tickets booked before and after the implementation of GST are following . The following procedure may be followed for refund of fare and Service Tax/GST for all the upper classes (GST applicable classes)
Refund after the cancellation of tickets shall be made as per extant refund rule.
GST amount on cancellation/clerkage charge shall be levied separately.
In case of ticket purchased in advance before the implementation of GST, and the same is cancelled after implementation of GST, refund amount due as per refund rule shall be refunded to the passenger. However the total amount of Service Tax charged at the time of booking shall not be refunded to passenger in cash/ shall not be transferred in the account from which transaction took place in case of e-tickets, etc. Refund of Service Tax shall be made only after Ministry of Railway gets a refund from the Department. The cancelled ticket shall be treated as Credit Note for getting a refund of Service Tax amount.
In case of ticket purchased and cancelled after implementation of GST, there will be a levy of GST at the time of purchase and if the same is cancelled, GST refund indicated in the cancelled ticket will be treated as Credit Note. GST on the amount refundable to the passenger will be given in cash across the counter.
