Demonetisation: Railways waves off service tax for booking online tickets

New Delhi: In an endeavour to relieve customers, the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) in the wake of  demonetisation drive has done away with service tax charges on online bookings done through its website till 31st of December. A tax of 20 rupees is usually levied on sleeper class tickets and 40 rupees on AC class tickets while transacting via the IRCTC website. The tickets booked through the IRCTC website will become cheaper from Wednesday. Indian Railways saw an unusual footfall at reservation booking counters across the country with people queuing up to book train tickets as the public run transporter is accepting Rs 500 and 1000 denomination notes for bookings. The government earlier this month declared that notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 denomination ceased to be legal tender from midnight in an effort to fight black money