Google Pay is an effective tool for making payments to your friends, the grocery guy near your house or even electricity bills. But did you know that the payment app can be used to book tickets for trains in the country?
Yes, that too from the reliable IRCTC website, accessed via the app from your mobile. Which means you don’t have to open the website, instead login to your account from Google Pay itself. And because you’re paying via the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) system, the ticket prices will be lower than expected.
Have I got your attention? Then follow these steps to book train tickets on the app.
Google Pay is available on both Android and iOS app stores.
How to Book Train Tickets on Google Pay
- On the Google Pay app, scroll down to the Businesses section and click on Trains.
- Then select the ‘Book train tickets’ option, which will take you to the main booking page for IRCTC.
- Over here, enter the city from where and to you want to travel, select the date to travel and return (if applicable) and you’ll get a list of trains available for the specified dates.
- Now click on train that fits your choice, depending on the class (First Class/Second Class/ Third Tier AC or sleeper) and see the prices of the seats detailed next to it.
- After that, users will be asked to fill their IRCTC login details, or create an account. Then you add the number of passengers travelling, fill in your contact information before making the payment for the travel
- Finally, select UPI as your mode of payment, enter your IRCTC account password, and possibly the four-digit UPI pin to complete the transaction. This way, you might get a cashback of up to 10 percent, depending on the value of tickets purchased from the app.
IRCTC has been a reliable platform to book train tickets in the country for decades and the website was upgraded last year to support higher volume traffic.
But with apps like Paytm and now Google Pay coming into the equation, for users on mobile (which are in the millions in India), ticket booking is becoming easier than ever, and also somewhat cheaper.
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