Tickets booked on IRCTC website may cost less as MDR likely to go
At present, Indian Railways' catering and tourism arm transfers MDR charge to passenger.
Mumbai: Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said his government was mulling an option to waive off merchant discount rate, MDR, charges on tickets booked on Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporaion, IRCTC, website with debit or credit card used as mode of online payment.
At present, IRCTC transfers the MDR charges to the passenger who books the ticket on the portal, thus, increasing the effective cost of the ticket. If the government has its way, soon the tickets booked through such medium will cost less.
"IRCTC passes the merchant discount rate to consumers. I am asking them to do away with this and we are in talks with banks for the same,” The Economic Times quoted Goyal as saying. Goyal is of the view that this will happen in two three days. Goyal was speaking at the India Economic Summit jointly organised by the WEF and the CII.