{
  "id": 6780085,
  "title": "IRCTC deactivates over three crore user IDs, suspends 6.33 crore IDs",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/irctc-deactivates-over-three-crore-user-ids-suspends-6-33-crore-ids",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-11T17:16:17.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Hindu",
    "slug": "the-hindu",
    "url": "https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/irctc-deactivates-over-three-crore-user-ids-suspends-633-crore-ids/article71456066.ece"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In a targeted effort to combat ticket touting and fraud, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has deactivated 3.04 crore user IDs and suspended 6.33 crore others, officials announced on Friday. Allegations of suspicious activity prompted the suspension, barring these account holders from booking tickets until their authenticity is verified. The move aimed at preventing agents from exploiting bulk booking tactics with fabricated IDs and reselling tickets at inflated rates to desperate travelers. Since October last year, IRCTC has been meticulously combating such misuse of its railway ticketing platform, blocking 16,041 suspicious email domains and registering 592 complaints on the Cyber Crime Portal related to 4.21 lakh suspicious PNR numbers. Currently, only a meager 8.43% to 14.14% of daily bookings are finalized within the first hour (8 a.m. to 9 a.m.) while over 85% of tickets are secured later in the day, with the highest volume recorded in the portal's first 15 minutes following the 8 a.m. opening. \"Only Aadhaar-authenticated users are allowed to book tickets during the opening ARP window from October 12, 2025,\" IRCTC emphasized. The corporation has partnered with a leading technology entity to implement anti-BOT and content delivery network (CDN) measures. These enhancements have curbed malicious BOT traffic by 55% to 65% recently and alleviated the load on New Generation Ticketing (NGeT) system through CDN implementation, thus improving the overall experience for legitimate users. On September 7, the highest single-day booking load was witnessed, with over 20 lakh tickets sold, coinciding with the bustling festive season for Deepavali and other celebrations. This figure surpasses the preceding year's record of 18,40,203 tickets booked on August 19, 2025. Presently, approximately 89% of all reserved tickets are procured via online channels. IRCTC has also rolled out system upgrades, including a new UI beta version since July 15, which is contributing to the high load the system can sustain during peak booking periods. The New Generation Ticketing platform processes a staggering 1.33 crore to 1.74 crore logins and handles 17 lakh to 20 lakh bookings on every ARP opening day, showcasing its robust capacity under intense demand. The IRCTC portal’s ability to manage heavy booking volumes is a testament to the corporation's strategic server capacity enhancement through both hardware augmentation and software optimization. Moreover, IRCTC launched a visually appealing new user interface beta version from July 15, featuring design elements like Glassmorphism to streamline the passenger journey from login to ticket confirmation.",
  "summary": "Agents misuse the system by making bulk bookings through fake user IDs and then later sell tickets at inflated rates to desperate passengers",
  "key_points": [
    "IRCTC deactivated 3.04 crore user IDs to curb ticket fraud",
    "Suspended 6.33 crore accounts after suspicious activity allegations",
    "Only 8.43% to 14.14% of bookings finalized within first hour"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}