Title - dont blame IRCTC

Mumbai: Not only has the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)’s e-ticketing facility witnessed many failed transactions, there have been many cases where tickets have not been generated despite amounts for the transactions being debited from cards. Compounding problems, the money deducted is refunded into the customer’s card account three to four days after the failed transaction.
    According to IRCTC, around 4.5 lakh bookings are done per day through its website. The overall success rate for May and June 2012 was 72% and 75%, respectively. Netbanking and debit card transactions were the worst performers with a success rate of 66% in May 2012 and a slightly improved 71% in June 2012.
    A senior railway official admitted that the figures reveal “an awful success rate. If the rai lway board does not act fast, the failure rate will rise further as the use of eticketing facility is catching up fast among passengers”.
    The success rate has been better when a transaction attempt is made through a cash card.
    Pradeep Kundu, spokesperson for the IRCTC, said, “The problem of money getting deducted even though a transaction does not get completed is not solely the IRCTC’s fault. It could be because of poor internet quality at the consumer’s end or some technical problem at the bank’s end too.”
    Kundu also blamed failed transactions on too many concurrent hits for the same berth or seat. He said, “At one point in time, we used to receive eight to nine lakh concurrent hits during peak hours. However, the change in the Tatkal booking timings has seen concurrent hits fall to four to five lakh. The traffic has almost halved due to these measures.”
    An expert in merchant banking said, “The failure co u ld also be due to an incorrect password or insufficient balance or an abrupt abortion before the process is comp leted.” To ease the proble m, he said, the IRCTC could “ease out a payment gateway with a poor success rate”.
    Several commuters alleged transactions are timeconsuming. Abhay Datar of Mumbai Grahak Panchayat said, “It is not only about the rate of failure. I had mentioned the choice for lower berth. However, after the money was deducted, I got a message that the choice was not available.”