The government is mulling on a proposal to do away with the merchant discount rate or MDR which is passed on to travellers. MDR or Merchant discount rate is the amount the merchant is required to shell out to the banks for availing card services. In this case the merchant is Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and the MDR is the amount that it pays to the different banks for their debit or credit card payment gateway services.

On Thursday, Railway minister Piyush Goyal said that he is currently under talks with various banks on finding a way out for passengers to relieve them of these charges and hence the e-tickets for railway booking are likely to come down in price in near future.

The proposal is likely to see implementation in two-days added the minister speaking on the sidelines of Indian Economic Summit organized jointly by the CII and the WEF. Goyal said "IRCTC passes the merchant discount rate to consumers. I am asking them to do away with this and we are in talks with banks for the same".

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