By: Ashutosh Asthana

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Keeping in mind the comfort of its passengers, Indian Railways is going to make a new initiative. Railway officials have told that Railways will soon provide cashless transaction facility inside the trains as well. Passengers will then find it easy to buy food items inside the train. Passengers will also be able to pay the prices of edibles through digital wallets. According to railway sources, this proposal has been presented to the railway board and this facility will start soon.
Officials said that the primary reason for implementing this facility is that many passengers find it difficult in purchasing eatables in the train due to a shortage of cash. After this initiative, they can easily purchase tea, coffee, and other eatables by paying through e-wallets. This facility will be provided to the passengers through debit card, credit card or e-wallets.

Officials have also told that in the starting phase, this scheme will be implemented in 26 trains. If the scheme gets successful, then the POS machine facility will be provided in the trains with pantry cars. They also told that railways have made this rule that if the vendor doesn't accept POS transaction, then he will be liable for a penalty.

The transaction facility through debit card and credit card have been started in some Rajdhani trains. Soon the facility will be started in trains with pantry cars. A senior railway official said that the recent meeting of railway board has decided that the passengers can now purchase items through debit and credit cards. The vendors in these trains will now carry a POS (point of sale) machine with them.
Railway officials claim that through POS machines, passengers can pay through BHIM or Paytm apps as well. While paying through POS machine, the passenger will get the bill of the item purchased. Passengers will be benefited from this initiative as the vendors would not charge extra amount for the item.
Officials have also told that in the starting phase, this scheme will be implemented in 26 trains. If the scheme gets successful, then the POS machine facility will be provided in the trains with pantry cars. They also told that railways have made this rule that if the vendor doesn't accept POS transaction, then he will be liable for a penalty.

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While speaking with Thinking Aloud on this new initiative, the co-founder, and CEO of Eko India Financial Services, Abhishek Sinha said, "This will be an initiative in the right direction from the Indian Railways. The challenge will be on how are they planning to implement this and will there be a level playing field for wallets and payment providers to integrate their respective payment instruments and user interfaces".
The CoFounder of Nupay, Alok Arora is hopeful that this initiative will be a benefit for the digital wallets industry. He said, "Use of Digital wallets has been well established for small value payments. Railways going cashless with wallets being used for buying snacks and food items will give a boost to the industry, apart from giving convenience to the passengers. Challenges around network connectivity will have to be addressed through WiFi enabled trains and stations which is also underway".
With railway passengers increasing every year, it will be interesting to witness the change that cashless railway services will bring in the ecosystem.

The author is the Assistant Editor of Thinking Aloud.

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