12,000 rail ticket counters set to go cashless, will only accept card payments

In a step forward in its push for a cashless and digital economy, the government is now working to make sale of over the counter rail tickets payable only through credit and debit cards. The Indian Railways has asked several lenders including the State Bank of India and ICICI Bank among others to provide around 15,000 point of sale machines at reservation counters by December 31. Currently, the Railways does not provide POS service for debit and credit card payments at its ticket counters. After this, passengers would be able to purchase tickets from railway reservation centres using electronic payments method like credit cards, debit cards and pre-paid cards approved by the Reserve Bank of India as well as via point-of-sale machines by banks.