In a bid to promote digital payments, the Indian Railways on Thursday said it will bring UPI (Unified Payments Interface) payment system at all its ticket reservation counters across the country from Friday.

“We are going to roll out UPI-based payment system at all reservation counters across the country,” Railway Board Member (Traffic) Mohammad Jamshed said in New Delhi.

He said the system will currently be launched only for reserved tickets.

He said over 97 percent of the tickets sold at Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters daily are through cash and only two-three percent of transactions at the reservation counters are through debit or credit cards.

According to railway officials, about 7.5 lakh tickets are booked daily. Five lakh tickets are booked at PRS counters.

“Now a passenger does not have to carry his credit/ debit card, as they will be able to book it through BHIM app through a mobile phone,” Jamshed said.

He said the Railways is working to develop Bharat QR code option for booking tickets “Once it’s completed, passengers just need to scan the QR code to make payments,” the official said.

The Railways earns around Rs. 110 crores daily by selling reserved tickets – Rs. 80 crores from e-ticketing and Rs. 30 crores from tickets sold at reservation counters.

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