Twitter: IRCTC shuns the ban on banks from using debit cards as payment gateway

IRCTC took to Twitter on Saturday to refute Friday's news that the railway subsidiary had banned the use of debit cards of all but seven banks over a convenience fee. Friday's report said that IRCTC had banned the debit cards of several banks including ICICI and State Bank of India from its payment gateway.

No Debit/Credit Card of any bank has been restricted by IRCTC 4 acceptance on any of Gateways as has been misrepresented by some of the news pic.twitter.com/Wjm51sWKvD

— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) September 22, 2017

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 debit cards of various banks were accepted through seven payment gateways on its official website. 

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.