IRCTC introduces OTP-based refund system for booking through travel agents

Railway passengers who book their train tickets through travel agents, but end up cancelling the tickets, or cannot travel as the ticket continues to be on the waitlist, can now get a text message directly from IRCTC, regarding the exact refund amount that they are supposed to get from it. This will enable the passengers know if the ticket booking agents are fleecing them, and if so, to what extent.

To enable this, the passenger is required to provide the number to the IRCTC authorised agent at the time of booking e-ticket.

Under this new process, whenever a ticket booked through the authorised IRCTC agent is cancelled by the customer or a fully waitlisted ticket, IRCTC will send a one time password (OTP) through SMS to the passengers mobile number. The passenger is supposed to share the OTP to the ticket booking agent, as the ticket booking agent can claim the refund amount only after he shares the OTP.

The Indian Railways has initiated a more transparent and customer friendly refund system for reserved e-tickets which are cancelled or which are fully waitlisted dropped tickets (railway parlance for tickets that continue to be waitlisted even after the final reservation chart is released.).

"OTP-based refund process will ensure more transparency in the system to the advantage of the customer. It is user-friendly facility wherein passenger will come to know about the exact refund amount received by agent on his behalf against cancelled ticket or fully waitlisted dropped ticket," stated IRCTC in a release.

This new system has been implemented by Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited. It is an OTP-based refund system wherein OTP will be received as SMS on the registered mobile number of the passenger.