IRCTC refund calculator

Since the Ministry of Railways' announcement of 24 March 2026, cancelling a confirmed e-ticket falls into four windows, measured from the train's scheduled departure at its first station. More than 72 hours before, a flat charge per passenger; 72 to 24 hours, 25 percent of the fare; 24 to 8 hours, 50 percent; under 8 hours, no refund. In the two percentage bands the flat charge is the minimum. IRCTC's published rules still show the older 48, 12 and 4 hour windows.

A sleeper ticket of ₹650 cancelled 4 days out loses ₹120 and refunds ₹530. The same ticket cancelled 2 days out, 48 hours before departure, loses 25 percent, which is ₹163, so the refund is ₹487. Cancelled the evening before, 12 hours out, it loses half: ₹325 back. Cancelled 6 hours out, nothing comes back.

The flat charge depends on the class of travel, listed on the Indian Railways train classes page. For an AC 3 tier fare of ₹1,800 it is ₹180, 25 percent is ₹450 and 50 percent is ₹900. The percentage bands bite harder on expensive tickets, which is why a First AC cancellation inside 24 hours hurts: half of ₹4,000 is ₹2,000.

A ticket that is still waitlisted or RAC (Reservation Against Cancellation: a shared side-lower berth) when you cancel loses only the ₹60 clerkage per passenger, provided you cancel up to 30 minutes before departure. There is no percentage band for these. The waitlist codes page explains which lists clear, and the availability status codes page what each word on the IRCTC screen means.

A fully waitlisted e-ticket that is still waitlisted when the chart is prepared is cancelled by the system and the fare, less clerkage, comes back to the account that paid. You do not need to do anything. A counter ticket in the same position has to be surrendered at a counter.

A party ticket with some passengers confirmed and others waitlisted or RAC is the awkward case. If you cancel the whole ticket up to 30 minutes before departure, IRCTC refunds the confirmed passengers in full less clerkage too, rather than applying the percentage bands. Cancel only the confirmed names and the bands apply to them.

Most refunds are less than the fare because of the cancellation charge for the time band, the ₹60 clerkage on waitlisted and RAC tickets, or the rule that keeps the whole fare on a confirmed Tatkal ticket.

Three other reasons show up again and again: a confirmed ticket was cancelled less than 8 hours before departure; an RAC or waitlisted ticket was left alone until the last 30 minutes; or the payment gateway fee, which IRCTC does not refund on a voluntary cancellation. Tatkal is covered on the Tatkal ticket cancellation charges page.

The Ministry of Railways said on 24 March 2026 (PIB) that filing a Ticket Deposit Receipt for e-tickets has been removed and refunds are now processed automatically on cancellation. IRCTC's own pages, updated in May 2026, still describe the older route: once the first chart is prepared, the Cancel button disappears and money comes back only through a TDR for a listed reason, such as a train more than 3 hours late at your boarding station. A change of plan was never one of them. A ticket still waitlisted at the chart is cancelled by the system (see the waiting list rules), and berths left vacant after the chart go on sale again as current booking.

The first chart is now made by 20:00 the evening before for trains leaving between 05:01 and 14:00, and 10 hours before departure for the rest, which the Ministry described as 9 to 18 hours before departure. The chart preparation calculator gives the time for your train, and the deadline clock on this page counts down to the 72 hour, 24 hour and 8 hour cut-offs.

Every TDR reason IRCTC still lists, with its deadline, is in the TDR filing guide. Before cancelling, check whether the date, boarding station or name can be changed instead with the train ticket change checker.

Confirmed Tatkal tickets are a separate rule: no refund on cancellation at all, at any time. The Tatkal fare calculator and the Tatkal cancellation guide go into the exceptions.