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After an agreement for e-ticketing with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), Noida-based mobile payment and ecommerce platform, Paytm, has tied-up with IRCTC to allow passengers to make online payments for food ordered through e-catering.
IRCTC has an e-catering facility in 1,516 trains without pantry cars and provides station-based ‘Food On Track’ facility at 45 stations. Presently, passengers have to make online pre-paid payment or Cash on Delivery (CoD) for these e-catering services.
Kiran Vasireddy, Senior Vice-President, Paytm said, “We are very happy to be associated with IRCTC in all their platforms. Our earlier association for purchasing tickets through Paytm wallet had a phenomenal uptake and growth. We aim to give the customers a great travel experience as they buy tickets and order food through Irctc’s e-ticketing & e-catering platform using Paytm wallet.”
Prior to this, Paytm and IRCTC had entered into an agreement to make payments for booking train tickets online. This facility was even extended to Mobikwik wallet users, which became the first payment option on IRCTC Connect Android App, in December this year.
Dr. A K Manocha, Chairman and Managing Director at IRCTC said, “In the new age it’s not just novel food options but also a convenient payment method that users look for. The association with Paytm is an effort in that direction.”
IRCTC is a subsidiary of the Indian Railways that handles the catering, tourism and online ticketing operations of the railways. In a bid to popularise its operations for “Food on Track”, IRCTC has tied up with online food delivery firm FoodPanda enabling consumers to order from a variety of cuisine options.
The e-catering facility allows passengers to order meals while travelling, either online on or by making a phone call.
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