Question : Cashless Business in Railways

(a) whether the Railways has made significant progress in the Government’s digitization push with 97% of its freight business and almost half of its passenger business going cashless and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Railways has tied up with the State Bank of India to acquire and operate a large number of PoS machines to cater to the requirement of Railway stations, unreserved and suburban ticket counters and parcel offices and if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the railways enjoys the advantages of a well-laid out communication system to provide connectivity for the PoS operations; and

(d) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

(a) to (d): During the period April, 2016 to December, 2016, approximately 59% of total reserved tickets were booked through cashless modes of payment through internet or through credit/debit cards across counters. Around 68% of revenue has been received through cashless modes of payment in case of reserved passenger segment during the period December, 2016 to January, 2017. At present, cashless transactions in case of freight business is more than 99%. With a view to further promoting cashless transaction, it has been decided to install 10,000 Point of Sale (POS) machines in association with State Bank of India at various locations of Indian Railways in the following order of priority :-

i. PRS locations
ii. UTS locations at suburban stations
iii. Parcel/Goods locations where cash is accepted
iv. Other UTS locations

As the POS machines are GPRS-based, the communication system of Railways is not required for operation of these machines.
*****