Ticket booking portal, IRCTC will be launching SMS-based ticketing from July 1 and a dedicated number will be announced for the same, reports NDTV. User availing the service needs to register his/her number with IRCTC as well as one's bank. The Bank provides MMID (Mobile Money Identifier) and OTP (one time password) for authorisation of payment.

"Mobile- based booking provides the users ease and convenience of booking tickets from anywhere and anytime. There will be no requirement of a printout because the ticketing message will be considered as valid during the journey," a senior official said.

A passenger needs to type the train number, destination, journey date, and class and passenger details like name, age and gender on the SMS box.

"The sender will receive transaction ID and then make payment through sending another SMS by typing PAY followed by the transaction ID, MMID as received from the bank and password, said the official adding "with this the passenger's ticket is booked."

The official said that the service will be available for all mobile subscribers and will be priced at Rs. 3 per SMS. The payment gateway charges will be Rs. 5 for ticket amount upto Rs. 5000 and Rs. 10 for more than Rs. 5000.