Booking train tickets? Here are the IRCTC charges for online payments

It does not show up on the e-ticket, but did you know that the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) charges a nominal fee for most payments made on credit or debit cards, or through net banking? Called Bank Transaction Charge, the amount you shell out ranges from Rs 10 per transaction to 4 per cent of the transaction amount, depending on the bank or card provider.

According to the IRCTC website, payments through net banking are free only for the following 6 banks: IDBI Bank, Bank of Maharashatra, South Indian Bank, City Union Bank, IndusInd Bank and Karur Vysya Bank. It's far more common for IRCTC to charge Rs 10 plus applicable taxes - customers of big banks like SBI and HDFC Bank as well as smaller banks like Oriental Bank of Commerce have to pay this additional amount for train tickets bought through net banking.

There are no transaction charges when it comes to payments made on domestic Visa/MasterCard debit cards powered by Citibank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank. However, ICICI Bank debit cards incur a charge of 0.25% plus taxes for domestic debit card transactions amounting up to Rs 1,000, going up to 1 per cent plus tax for amounts over Rs 2,000. On the other hand, the transaction charge on payments made through domestic credit cards is typically 1.8 per cent plus applicable taxes, but Visa/MasterCard credit cards powered by Axis Bank incur a lower charge of 1.65% plus applicable taxes. The international credit cards incur the highest charge of 4%.