Refunds from IRCTC to speed up and passengers to receive money back in an hour

IRCTC and the Indian Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) are working towards standardising refund times across all scenarios. It is likely that the reimbursement will be handled in an hour or so. For the railways, complaints about delayed refunds have been a major issue. If a reservation is cancelled, the IRCTC begins refunding the following day. Afterwards, depending on the method chosen, it may take several days for the banks or payment systems to process it.

As per news source, the work is in progress and it is a joint effort from IRCTC and CRIS.  

The main objective behind this is to make refund times the same for all situations.

Slow refunds are a major problem for the railways and people have often expressed their frustrations on social media.

Right now, the process is slow. If a booking fails, the IRCTC starts the refund the next day. Then, it's up to the banks or payment services, which can take several days depending on the method used.

The railway authority has geared up to bring a change in that and they have directed teams to find ways to make the refund process much faster. This change is very important in this digital era where systems run with little to no human input. It's important to note, though, that IRCTC charges a convenience fee when you book a ticket. This fee is not refunded.