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IRCTC earned Rs 248 crore from service fees in 3 months, now MDR charge may be imposed on UPI payment

Samira Vishwas | August 17, 2026 9:24 PM CST

IRCTC Service Fee Revenue: IRCTC has earned a total service fee of Rs 248 crore from booking of 13.27 crore tickets in the last three months. This means that the company earned an average of about Rs 19 on each ticket. If you pay for the ticket through UPI, then you have to pay a service fee of Rs 10 to Rs 20.

UPI MDR Charge May Apply Soon: If you also book train tickets through IRCTC, then this news is for you. Nowadays every passenger uses IRCTC app and website to book train tickets. With this, tickets can be booked easily without any hassle and you also get the option to choose your favorite seat. This is the reason why most of the passengers book train tickets through this app. Recently such a news has come out, according to which if you book a train ticket for your journey through IRCTC app and pay through UPI, then now you may have to pay more for it.

The number of payments made through UPI increased

According to a report of Railways, in comparison to last year, in the year 2027, the number of payments made through UPI in the ticket booking process has increased from 48.72 percent to 51.22 percent. That means, out of every 100, about 51 tickets are booked through UPI payment. In view of this increase, Railways can now add extra fees for payment through UPI.

Railways earned service fees of Rs 248 crore

IRCTC has earned a total service fee of Rs 248 crore from booking of 13.27 crore tickets in the last three months. This means that the company earned an average of about Rs 19 on each ticket. If you pay for the ticket through UPI, then you have to pay a service fee of Rs 10 to Rs 20. On the other hand, if payment is made through debit-credit card or credit line, this fee increases to Rs 15 to Rs 30.

MDR charge may be imposed on UPI payment

The Finance Committee of Parliament has also expressed concern on this issue. According to the committee, at present no MDR i.e. merchant discount rate is applicable on payment through UPI. MDR is the charge that has to be paid when taking online payment from someone. To reduce the burden of this expense, the committee has advised that a fixed and limited charge can be imposed on digital transactions involving large or high amounts. It is a matter of relief that no such new charge has been introduced for booking train tickets through UPI. At present this is just a suggestion, but if the government takes any decision on this in future, then booking tickets through UPI may become expensive.