Book Tickets on IRCTC via International Debit & Credit Cards

If you grew up in a middle-class family in India, the first thing you do when planning a trip is open the IRCTC portal to check train tickets. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, many Indians travel by Indian Railways throughout the year. But till a certain point, IRCTC didn’t accept payments made via international debit and credit cards. However, that’s not the case anymore!

Keep reading to know what has changed and how you can book tickets on IRCTC via international debit and credit cards.

Did you know that you can book IRCTC tickets online even if you live abroad and only have international debit and credit cards issued outside of India? Yes, that’s right. If you didn’t know this already, the process is easier than you think.

Previously, IRCTC only allowed American Express Cards as the payment method for booking e-tickets on the portal. The inability to make payments when buying train e-tickets on the IRCTC website has long been a problem for foreigners and NRI travellers.

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However, in early 2016, IRCTC joined hands with NTT DATA Payments Services India (formerly, Atom Technologies), one of India’s leading online payment service providers, in order to facilitate ticket booking with international debit/credit cards, making it convenient for foreigners and NRI travellers.

So, if you’re an NRI or a foreigner who wants to experience the Indian Railways with your family, you may now book e-tickets using your international bank cards.

So, what more about this?

Thanks to the partnership between NTT DATA Payments Services and IRCTC, international credit and debit cards are now accepted on the IRCTC ticketing platform. IRCTC, Visa, and NTT DATA Payment Services collaborated and launched the service in New Delhi in May 2016.

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NTT DATA, NTT DATA Payment Services’ parent company, is a conglomerate with more than 1,30,000 professionals working across 50+ countries, including Japan, China, the USA, Canada, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, and many more.

NTT DATA Payment Services India caters to more than 6 million+ merchants, with an annual transaction value and volume of INR 800+ billion and 100 million, respectively.

Commenting on the development, A.K. Manocha, chairman and managing director of IRCTC, said, “Atom (now, NTT DATA Payment Services) has deployed a robust technology and was class from protection mechanism, and our technology team has made necessary changes along with them to enable such transactions.” 

IRCTC is in charge of booking domestic trains, flights, hotels, vacation packages, and other travel-related services.

Mr Dewang Neralla, CEO, NTT DATA Payment Services (formerly Atom Technologies) said, “We are thankful to the team at IRCTC for choosing Atom for their global ticketing window. Our platform is highly scalable and adheres to the latest industry standards in the payments industry, and we are sure we would be able to match up with IRCTC’s high technology standards. We have also signed up and integrated our platform with one of the best Risk Management platforms globally, Decision Manager from Cybersource, which would enable us to manage risk and fraud proactively.”

NTT DATA Payments offers services including Online Payment Gateway in India, Card Swipe Machine, IVR, Merchant Mobile Application, and various white-labelled solutions for the banks. With more than 100+ payment options, they offer safe and convenient payment solutions to merchants and businesses. With their powerful merchant dashboard, NTT DATA Payments also gives businesses the ability to monitor payments in real-time.

How to Book Tickets on IRCTC via International Debit/Credit Cards

The process is as follows

• On the payment page, choose the “International cards powered by Atom” payment option found under the “Payment Gateway/credit card” category.
• Enter all necessary payment information into the database, including the card’s number, name, expiration date, CVV, bank’s name, mobile number, and address, among other things.
• After entering all the necessary information, the tickets will be booked post-OTP validation. 

When using a foreign credit or debit card through NTT DATA Payment Services’ payment gateway, a nominal transaction fee will be applied to the service.

The service is expected to be used by 3.56 lakh registered international customers who want to purchase e-tickets for themselves or members of their families. 

The IRCTC website is estimated to sell lakhs of tickets every day. Over 11 lakh tickets are being booked daily through the internet portal, with over 61.5% booking tickets from the IRCTC mobile app. 

Conclusion

NTT DATA Payments will now implement the technology to support online transactions from overseas clients on Indian e-commerce sites that cater to NRIs and international travellers.

It is believed that this service will properly put India on the world’s tourism map and make it easier for travellers to enter and exit the country.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Does IRCTC accept international credit cards?

Yes, you can book tickets online on IRCTC with international credit cards. Include all necessary payment information, including the card number, name, expiration date, CVV, etc., and submit the information. The booking is considered a success when the bank or payment gateway responds positively.

2. How to book Indian railway tickets from abroad?

With a valid passport number, nationality and international mobile number, foreign tourists (including NRIs) can now use the Foreign Tourist Quota option to book train tickets online on the IRCTC website. 

3. How to book train tickets in India from the USA?

Before the train becomes available for reservations, foreign travellers can register their demand up to 365 days in advance. Payments can only be made through IRCTC international credit cards or debit cards. 

4. Is an Aadhaar Card mandatory for IRCTC?

No, an Aadhaar Card is not necessary to book tickets via IRCTC. However, there are certain benefits of linking your Aadhaar Card with IRCTC. By linking Aadhar, you can book up to 12 train tickets a month, which is double the number of tickets without linking Aadhar.

5. Can you make a foreigner account in IRCTC?

Yes, you can make a foreigner account on the IRCTC website. International/NRI users with residence country other than India have to pay registration fees of ₹100 + GST. A valid mobile number and e-mail address are also required.