Ministry of Railways on Friday denied reports that the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has banned several banks from using its payment gateways for debit/credit cards transactions. Through a tweet IRCTC denied reports that the railway subsidiary had banned the use of debit cards of all but seven banks over a convenience fee.
This ban was levied because certain banks had refused to give away a share of the convenience fee they charged customers for booking tickets online. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation clearly denied the ban on Twitter.
They also said that the no debit /credit card of any bank has been restricted to use payment gateway for online transactions.
What is the actual issue between IRCTC and Banks ?
IRCTC and several banks are trying to come to settle over the distribution of fees charged while booking tickets online. Post the ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes IRCTC had waived the convenience fee charged to customers and according to a senior executive they were losing on to Rs 50,000 a day after giving up the Rs.20 fee.
Earlier, IRCTC had asked banks to share with it half the convenience fee that lenders recover from card transactions on the website. However, the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has been reportedly being the mediator between the two, in order to resolve the issue.
