Tatkal Ticket: Indian Railways has made an important change related to Tatkal ticket booking. From July 1, 2025, tickets under the Tatkal quota will be available only to Aadhaar-verified passengers.
This rule will apply to both IRCTC website and mobile app. The Railway Ministry has taken this decision with the aim of making Tatkal booking more transparent and accessible to common passengers.
The Railway Ministry issued a directive on June 10, saying, “Only Aadhaar verified users will be able to book tickets under the Tatkal scheme.” The ministry believes that this will curb the black marketing of Tatkal tickets and genuine passengers will benefit from the facility.
Tatkal ticket sales account for about 20% of total railway ticket sales. This scheme is specially designed to meet emergencies or last minute travel needs. Under this scheme, passengers have to pay 10–30% premium over the normal fare.
OTP is required even on counter booking
Railways has also clarified that if Tatkal tickets are booked from railway counter or authorised agent, then from July 15, 2025, booking will be done only through OTP sent to the mobile number linked to Aadhaar.
This OTP process will be generated from IRCTC’s system and only the mobile number given to the passengers at the time of booking will be valid. This step has been taken to curb suspicious bookings.
Restrictions were also imposed on ticket agents
To increase transparency in booking of Tatkal tickets, the Railways has given a big blow to the authorized agents. Now the agents will not be able to book AC class tickets between 10:00 am to 10:30 am. Whereas, this restriction will be applicable for non-AC tickets from 11:00 am to 11:30 am.
This new rule will ensure that common passengers can come first and make bookings and agents do not get priority.
New security system and digital infrastructure
Railways said that it has partnered with advanced anti-bot systems and Content Delivery Network (CDN) in its digital booking platform to prevent automatic and unethical booking. Under this, 2.5 crore suspicious user accounts have been deactivated so far.
On May 22, 2025, Railways also recorded a record of 31,814 ticket bookings in a minute, indicating the successful implementation of the new technology.
Strictness on new user registration too
Now, users who create new IDs on IRCTC will have to face a three-day cooling-off period for booking tickets in high-demand categories like Tatkal or Premium Tatkal. In contrast, there will be no such restriction for Aadhaar-verified users.
Railway Minister’s response
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav described the new rules as a decision to benefit genuine passengers. He said, “Aadhaar based e-authentication will make the booking process more transparent. Also, more needy people will be more likely to get confirmed tickets.”
