The Indian Railways witnessed a whopping 1,000 per cent jump in ticket bookings in its AC-1 coaches, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currency notes.
When demonetisation kicked in on Wednesday, 27,000 tickets were booked in the AC-1 tier coaches, compared to 2,000 tickets reserved on Tuesday. Similarly, Indian Railways sold 70,000 tickets on Wednesday, a near 90 per cent hike from 37,000 tickets sold a day before. There was a 16 percent rise in the AC-3 tier coach bookings, as per data compiled by the Railway Ministry.
While announcing the demonetisation move, the Centre had allowed passenger ticketing counters at railway stations to accept old Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes to avoid passenger inconvenience.
After the Indian Railways took some measures to check such “unusually” high bookings on Wednesday, the jump in the ticket reservations dipped the following day on Thursday.
Nonetheless, there was an 800 per cent jump in the AC-1 tier, almost 73 per cent hike in the AC-3 tier and a 16 per cent increase in AC-3 tier bookings on Thursday, compared to Tuesday. After a sudden spurt in bookings, Railway officials were instructed that any cash transaction worth above Rs. 50,000 be accepted only after obtaining a copy of the PAN card. The Railways also set up a special cell to monitor high-value transactions at ticketing counters in a bid to tackle attempts at laundering black money through exempted channels.
The Railways has further announced that the refund of ticket cancellations worth above Rs. 10,000 will either be processed through cheque or transfer to bank accounts.
Indian Railways spokesperson Anil Saxena said on Monday that existing instructions for usage of old Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes for the purpose of ticketing, on-board catering on trains will continue until midnight November 24.
The Finance Ministry has instructed all the exempted establishments to maintain complete record of all transactions made with old notes.
When demonetisation kicked in on Wednesday, 27,000 tickets were booked in the AC-1 tier coaches, compared to 2,000 tickets reserved on Tuesday. Similarly, Indian Railways sold 70,000 tickets on Wednesday, a near 90 per cent hike from 37,000 tickets sold a day before. There was a 16 percent rise in the AC-3 tier coach bookings, as per data compiled by the Railway Ministry.
While announcing the demonetisation move, the Centre had allowed passenger ticketing counters at railway stations to accept old Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes to avoid passenger inconvenience.
After the Indian Railways took some measures to check such “unusually” high bookings on Wednesday, the jump in the ticket reservations dipped the following day on Thursday.
Nonetheless, there was an 800 per cent jump in the AC-1 tier, almost 73 per cent hike in the AC-3 tier and a 16 per cent increase in AC-3 tier bookings on Thursday, compared to Tuesday. After a sudden spurt in bookings, Railway officials were instructed that any cash transaction worth above Rs. 50,000 be accepted only after obtaining a copy of the PAN card. The Railways also set up a special cell to monitor high-value transactions at ticketing counters in a bid to tackle attempts at laundering black money through exempted channels.
The Railways has further announced that the refund of ticket cancellations worth above Rs. 10,000 will either be processed through cheque or transfer to bank accounts.
Indian Railways spokesperson Anil Saxena said on Monday that existing instructions for usage of old Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes for the purpose of ticketing, on-board catering on trains will continue until midnight November 24.
The Finance Ministry has instructed all the exempted establishments to maintain complete record of all transactions made with old notes.