In a bid to facilitate genuine users and prevent touting activities, a limit has been imposed by authorities on IRCTC online ticket booking and this has been cut to a maximum of 6 tickets in a month from the existing provision of maximum of 10 tickets by an individual user. This provision will come into effect from 15th February, 2015, according to IRCTC.
Officials at IRCTC state that this has been done keeping in view the analysis of usage of quota of 10 tickets which indicated that 90% of users are booking up to 6 tickets in a given month and only 10% are booking more than 6 tickets. Officials believe that the 10% users might be involved in touting activities, hence to deter such touts the ministry has decided that a maximum of 6 tickets can be booked by an individual user in a month.
IRCTC has taken various other moves to deal with the rising menace of touts some of the measures being:
(A) Limiting the booking of Advance Reservation Period to 2 tickets per user ID in a day between 8-10 in the morning
(B) Limiting the booking of tatkal tickets to 2 tickets per user ID in a day between 10-12 in the morning.
(C) Debarring all types of ticketing agents from booking tickets during the first thirty minutes of opening of booking, 8 – 8:30 AM for general bookings and 10:00-10:30 AM and 11:00 – 11:30 AM for tatkal booking in AC and non-AC classes respectively.
(D) Restricting bookings through e-wallet and cash cards from 8:00 – 12 AM.
(E) Only one booking in one user login session except for return/onward journey between 8:00 – 12:00 AM.