IRCTC Ticket: Travel Insurance for 45 Paise Buys Rs 10 Lakh Cover. All You Need To Know
IRCTC Ticket: For just 45 paise, IRCTC passengers can get ₹10 lakh travel insurance while booking train tickets online. Here’s how the cover works, who is eligible, and what benefits it offers.
A small premium of 45 paise can provide ₹10 lakh travel insurance for your train journey. Here's everything you need to know before booking your next IRCTC ticket.
New Delhi – IRCTC Ticket: Every time a passenger books a train ticket on IRCTC’s website or app, an easy-to-miss option appears on the payment page: optional travel insurance, priced at 45 paise. Most passengers scroll past it. But the scheme, offered through IRCTC in partnership with public-sector general insurers, is one of the lowest-cost insurance products sold anywhere in the country — and one of the least understood.
Also Read: PB Fintech Shares Rise as Net Profit Jumps 92% to ₹163 Crore
IRCTC Ticket: What the Policy Covers
Policy documentation issued to insured passengers lists coverage across five categories, each with its own fixed payout limit, irrespective of the fare paid or class of travel:
- Death: Rs 10,00,000
- Permanent Total Disability: Rs 10,00,000
- Permanent Partial Disability: Up to Rs 7,50,000
- Hospitalisation Expenses for Injury: Up to Rs 2,00,000
- Transportation of Mortal Remains: Rs 10,000
The total premium is split into a base premium and applicable GST, together adding up to 45 paise per passenger — making the payout-to-premium ratio among the highest of any retail insurance product in India.
IRCTC Ticket: When Coverage Begins and Ends
According to the policy terms, coverage starts the moment the insured passenger boards the train and continues until arrival at the destination station named on the ticket. The terms specifically include the “process of entraining” and “process of detraining,” extending the coverage window slightly beyond the scheduled departure and arrival times to account for boarding and disembarking.
Also Read: ‘No Insurance, No Fuel’: Supreme Court Cracks Down as 56% of Vehicles Run Uninsured
IRCTC Ticket: Who Can Buy It — And Who Can’t
The insurance is available exclusively to passengers travelling on a valid e-ticket booked through IRCTC. It must be actively selected at the time of booking; passengers who skip the option during checkout are not covered on that journey. Coverage is limited to Indian residents. Each certificate of insurance is linked to a specific PNR, train number, and travel date, and a separate certificate is generated for every insured passenger listed on the ticket.
IRCTC Ticket: How the Claims Process Works
Insurers direct policyholders or their nominees to raise claims via a designated email address or the insurer’s website, backed by a toll-free helpline available on weekdays during business hours. Certificates note that the coverage terms printed on the document are only a brief summary, and that the complete policy wording — covering exclusions, required documentation, and claim procedures — must be consulted separately before filing a claim.
In practice, claims under personal accident and travel cover of this kind typically require the claimant to submit a set of standard documents to the insurer. For a death claim, nominees are generally asked to provide the original certificate of insurance, a copy of the train ticket or PNR details, a death certificate issued by the competent municipal or local authority, and, in the case of an accident, a copy of the First Information Report (FIR) or a railway authority report documenting the incident.
For disability claims, insurers typically require medical records, disability certificates issued by an authorised medical board, and any diagnostic reports supporting the extent of disability. Hospitalisation claims usually call for original or attested hospital bills, discharge summaries, and treating-physician notes.
IRCTC Ticket: Why the Scheme Matters
The insurance is part of a broader effort by IRCTC, the ticketing and catering arm of Indian Railways, to embed low-cost financial protection into everyday rail bookings. With hundreds of millions of e-tickets sold each year, even a modest opt-in rate creates a very large base of insured travellers. The product carries a UIN (Unique Identification Number) issued by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), the regulatory code mandatory for every insurance product sold in the country, allowing it to be tracked and audited.
For passengers, the arithmetic is simple: an almost negligible premium, charged automatically if selected during booking, in exchange for coverage worth up to Rs 10 lakh that runs for the length of a single journey and expires once that journey ends.
