Paytm, IRCTC tie up for e-catering payment

New Delhi: Extending its engagement with Paytm, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp. (IRCTC) allowed passengers to order food on a train by using Paytm’s mobile wallet.

Travelers can already make payments for e-tickets booked through the IRCTC website using Paytm’s service.

“The discussion for the tie-up was on for a few weeks and today we have gone online,” said Kiran Vasireddy, senior vice-president, Paytm.

Paytm customers will be able to use its service to book tickets and order food. The option will be in addition to other payment options available such as online payments through net banking and cash on delivery.

IRCTC, which has often being criticized for not being able to manage traffic on its site, has of late made efforts to improve customers’ experience. It recently entered into an agreement with Foodpanda to offer a variety of cuisine to travelers.

IRCTC provides e-catering facility in 1,516 trains without pantry cars, and such a move will be helpful for those travelling in these trains. It has also changed rules for booking tickets so that brokers are not able to corner tatkal tickets that can be purchased a day in advance for an extra charge.

IRCTC sees around 600,000 ticket bookings a day through its website on an average and passengers can either opt for e-catering at the time of booking tickets or later. The e-catering service, called Food on Track, is also available on many railway stations as well. IRCTC is expected to soon tie-up with more food chains.

Paytm saw a phenomenal response on the ticketing front and this is the reason why the company and IRCTC have gone ahead for food ordering as well, according to Vasireddy. He, however, did not disclose any numbers relating to ticket reservations made on IRCTC through the Paytm wallet.

Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba and its affiliate Ant Financial Services are investors in Paytm. The company has received an initial licence from the Reserve Bank of India to operate a payments bank.