Indian Rail Debit Cards launching Soon; IRCTC Offers Incentives For Aadhaar Linking!
The Indian Rail branded debit card will offer special discounts like waiver of service charges when booking rail tickets.
Indian Railways has decided to go full throttle for a cashless economy. Very soon, you can get Indian Rail’s own branded debit cards which will have some special features for booking train tickets.
Meanwhile, Indian Railways has decided to subtly push for Aadhaar linking of all IRCTC accounts, by announcing special incentives. This was shared via email with all IRCTC registered users.
Will this Aadhaar push work?
Indian Rail Debit Card Coming Soon!
Indian Railways has partnered with SBI to launch their own branded debit cards, which can be used like any other debit cards for shopping anywhere.
However, when it comes to booking train tickets, then there shall be a special incentive: No service charge on bookings.
A Railway official said,
“It will be a railway debit card which can be used for any transaction but on buying rail tickets, it will be free of charges. There will be loyalty plans as well,”
Note here that as of now, there is no extra service charge applicable to IRCTC bookings. This has been provisioned until March 31, 2018.
But after that, IRCTC will resume charging the service charge of Rs 20, per sleeper class ticket and Rs 40 for AC class tickets. And users of this special debit card from Indian Railways will be exempted from this charge.
Right now, Indian Railways is incurring losses to the tune of Rs 600 crore for waiving off this service charge, as they need to pay to the banks the same. In the past, IRCTC had even attempted to block ICICI Bank and other banks’ debit card, over the same issue.
Besides, a special lottery would be announced, winners of which can get 100% cashback on train bookings. More details of awaited.
The launch of Indian Rail’s special debit card seems a nice strategic decision.
Railways’ Aadhaar Push: Special Incentives For Linking Aadhaar!
In an email sent to all IRCTC registered users, IRCTC has announced that those who will link their Aadhaar card with their IRCTC account will be able to book 12 tickets per month.
Those who haven’t yet linked their Aadhaar are able to book only 6 tickets per month from the website.
The email said,
“Dear User,
Now users are allowed to book up to 12 tickets in a month if users get themselves verified through their Aadhaar number along with at least one passenger also being verified through Aadhaar.”
The email has clarified that those who have not linked their Aadhaar will have no disadvantage, and the process will follow as before.
The email further said (in bold):
“No Aadhaar Verification required for booking up to 6 tickets in a month, as earlier. Existing facility of booking up to 6 tickets (without Aadhaar) in a month continues.”
Will IRCTC users be encouraged to link their Aadhaar now?
Do let us know by commenting right here!
