To ease rush at booking counters, the railways is mulling introducing booking of unreserved railway tickets on e-wallets like PayTM, JioMoney and Airtel Money.
The move is also expected to help scale up paperless mobile ticketing operation across the country in a big way.
Unreserved ticketing forms a huge chunk of the railways’ total ticket sale in a day and “we want to tap this sector through e-commerce”, said a senior Railway Ministry official.
The railways will not have to bear any cost for the facility. Instead, the public transporter is expected to earn from the selected e-wallet players commission on each ticket sold and retainer fees.
Many top mobile wallet companies are keen on joining the railways, the official said, adding talks were on to finalise the modalities.
Since these e-wallets are already operational for booking taxis, cinema tickets and other services, joining the railways will offer a big scope for these private players.
The move is a win-win proposition for both the railways and the mobile wallet companies, the official said.
The railways carry total 23 million passengers in a day, of which only six per cent is in reserved category and the rest are in unreserved segment which includes daily commuters.
At present, mobile ticketing options are available in a few suburban sections including Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi-Palwal.
From Agencies, Feature image courtesy indiancountry
