Sify iWay Ties Up With IRCTC For Selling Rail Tickets; Payment In Cash

This is a fantastic move for Sify, India’s online content-cum-access-cum-infrastructure player. The Chennai-based, Nasdaq-listed, internet company has tied up with India’s largest e-commerce company Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). The tie-up entails making IRCTC’s online railway ticketing services available at over 3400 iWay cyber cafes across 154 cities in the country with cash payments. A pilot project at 10 iWays in Delhi has started today.
This in a way is solving the problem of credit card/debit card, net-banking penetration and even internet penetration since you don’t need to be an internet user (the person manning the cafe can help consumers buy tickets and so anybody can walk to the nearest iWay outlet and get a railway ticket.) So forget those queues in railway reservation centres. The payment is made through cash at the outlet. (Is it outsourcing of ticket sales in a way? The Railways could have done it long time back by outsourcing this to travel agents.) All said, it’s a path-breaking tie-up for Sify, and would revive the fortunes of the company.
However, it’s not clear if it’s an exclusive tie-up with Sify. IRCTC could go and sign up with Reliance WebWorld outlets too if it’s not. The bottomline: Consumers will benefit since there will be more channels to buy tickets.

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