Book railway tickets without credit card/ debit card/ net banking through IMPS

In a bid to make e-ticketing (reservation) system more customer (user) friendly, IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) has launched the ‘Interbank Mobile Payment Service’ (IMPS). Now railway passengers not having credit card, debit card or net banking facilities can also book online railway ticket through the website of IRCTC http://www.icrtc.co.in by using IMPS. To start with the IMPS users can pay only through internet at IRCTC’s website. The facility will be made available later on through mobile phone and its various access channels such as mobile internet, IVR, SMS and USSD.

IMPS is a merchant payment system, which allows customers to make instant interbank payment to merchants or enterprise via mobile phone. For using the IMPS system a customer have to register himself / herself by linking the personal mobile number with his / her bank account. The user will get a mobile money identifier (MMID), a seven digit number from the bank. The combination of the mobile number and the MMID is a unique for a particular account. Besides this, the user will also get a mobile PIN (M-PIN), which is a secret password received from the bank. Further the customers need to authenticate the transactions using the M-PIN.

IMPS is an innovative payment mechanism that allows customers to make payment from their bank account anytime and from anywhere. This new initiative of IRCTC will make the railway ticket booking accessible to a wider customer base and it will make the booking of e-tickets easier, safer and faster. 

A customer has to download the mobile banking application or use SMS / USSD facility provided by the bank. The transaction is then done with his MMID and M-PIN using mobile banking application or SMS/ USSD facility. A customer will have to pay only Rs. 5 as IMPS charge for transaction amount of up to Rs. 5000 and Rs 10 for transaction amount of more than Rs. 5000.