Change the Mobile Number on a PNR for OTP

Say you book a ticket for a customer. Weeks later they walk back in and want to cancel. You start the cancellation, an OTP is needed, and the first question is: whose phone is it going to? If the answer is “I’m not sure”, you can lose half an hour, and a customer’s patience, over a ten-digit number you typed at booking.

This page is about that number. It covers which mobile numbers are involved in an agent booking, what IRCTC’s Agent Policy says about the cancellation OTP, what you can and can’t change after the booking is made, and the counter habit that stops the problem before it starts.

What does IRCTC’s policy say about the cancellation OTP?

The rule comes from IRCTC’s Revised Agent Policy, effective 29 November 2019 (IRCTC Agent Policy, retrieved 24 October 2026). In short:

1. The agent should cancel a ticket only on the customer’s request.
2. When the agent cancels a customer’s ticket, an OTP SMS is sent to the passenger’s mobile number.
3. The passenger shares that OTP with the agent, and the agent then refunds the cancellation amount to the customer.
4. The refund isn’t processed for tickets booked or cancelled by agents if the correct OTP isn’t received.

Read the last point again. If the right OTP doesn’t come back, the cancellation refund doesn’t go through. So the number on the booking isn’t a small detail. It’s what the refund depends on.

The same policy says the mobile number of the customer, or of one of the passengers, is mandatory when you book. It must show correctly on the Electronic Reservation Slip (ERS), and the agent should make sure it’s filled in correctly. The policy attaches a penalty per case if it isn’t.

Which mobile number is which?

People say “the mobile number on a booking” and mean three different things. They behave differently, so keep them apart.

• The number the agent logs in with. The policy says an agent’s login is authenticated every time by an OTP sent to the registered mobile number of the agent. That’s the OTP for signing in, and it has nothing to do with a passenger’s ticket. If you need to change it, see how to change the mobile number for OTP. The form is on the downloads page.
• The number on the personal account. If a customer has their own IRCTC account, its number is a separate record. Changing it is a profile change, and it doesn’t rewrite tickets already booked.
• The number entered on the booking. This is the one you type in while booking, the customer’s or one passenger’s. It prints on the ERS, SMS alerts about the journey go to it, and, per the policy above, the cancellation OTP SMS goes to the passenger’s mobile number.

Most of the confusion comes from treating those three as one number. They aren’t.

Can you change the number after the ticket is booked?

Be careful here. IRCTC’s Agent Policy doesn’t describe any way for an agent to edit the contact number on a booking after it’s made, and this guide doesn’t know of one. A PNR is a railway record, and the fields that can be edited afterwards are set by railway rules, not by what your screen happens to show. So don’t tell a customer “I’ll change the number later”. You may not be able to.

If a number was entered wrongly, don’t guess at a fix. Contact SiOnline support with the PNR and say exactly what’s wrong, and ask what’s possible for that booking. And fix any problem with your own ID’s registered number first. Until you do, every new booking can run into the same trouble.

What habit fixes it?

The fix is a counter habit, not a setting.

1. Ask for the number, type it slowly, and read it back. One wrong digit is all it takes.
2. Check the ERS before the customer leaves. The policy wants the passenger’s number correct on the slip, so look at it.
3. Record the number against the PNR in your own register. A notebook or a note on your phone, with the PNR as the title. Not in your head, and not in a chat history.
4. Tell the customer at booking that if they ever cancel, an OTP will come to their phone and they’ll need to read it out to you. Ten seconds at the counter prevents a confused call weeks later.
5. Give them the PNR in writing, printed or messaged, so they can check the booking themselves.

Do all five and the cancellation day is simple. You have the number, they have the PNR, and the OTP arrives on the phone it was meant for.

What should your register page look like?

Keep it simple. One line per booking is enough, and it takes under a minute to fill in.

That last line comes from the same policy. It asks agents to keep the customer’s written or electronic request and a copy of their ID proof for six months. Your register doesn’t replace those, but it helps you find them.

Which terms are worth knowing?

If you’re new to agent booking, these three words come up all the time.

• PNR is the booking’s reference number. Customers often call it the “ticket number”.
• ERS is the Electronic Reservation Slip, the printout or message that shows the booking. For agents, the policy wants it in IRCTC’s prescribed format, with the agent’s name and address and the PSP’s name on it.
• OTP is a one-time password, sent by SMS and valid for one use. There are different OTPs for different jobs. One signs the agent in. Another is the cancellation OTP discussed here. Don’t mix them up when you talk to a customer.

What mistakes cause the most trouble?

These are easy to make and easy to avoid:

• Typing the number from memory, not from what the customer says.
• Using your own number “just for now”, so the customer can’t take part in a cancellation later.
• Not checking the ERS, so a wrong digit goes unnoticed until cancellation day.
• Promising a customer that the number can be edited afterwards.
• Cancelling before the customer has actually asked you to.

Here’s a quick example, made up for practice. A customer says their number out loud while you’re serving someone else, and you type it quickly. If you read it back and check the ERS, you catch a swapped digit at once. If you don’t, the same swapped digit is what you discover weeks later, when the OTP goes to a stranger’s phone.

What do you do on cancellation day?

Say the customer is back and wants to cancel. Go through it in order:

1. Confirm which ID made the booking. If it was your agent ID, the cancellation is yours to handle. If it was a personal account that you can’t open, that’s a matter for IRCTC’s support, not yours.
2. Check who’s asking. Match their name, the journey and the PNR against your register.
3. Cancel only on their request. The policy is clear that the agent cancels only when the customer asks.
4. Ask them to share the OTP that reached their phone. This is the one OTP the policy describes the passenger sharing with the agent, for this cancellation. Never ask for, or give out, a login OTP or a password.
5. Complete the cancellation, tell them it’s done, and give them the reference instead of a verbal assurance.

No agent charge applies to cancellations. So don’t add one.

What if the customer’s phone number has changed or the phone is lost?

This happens. A customer changes SIM, loses a phone, or gives you someone else’s number. Don’t try to work around it. Tell them honestly that the cancellation needs the OTP that is sent to the number on the booking, and that the refund isn’t processed without the correct one. Then contact SiOnline support with the PNR and ask what the options are for that booking. Don’t ask anyone to forward you a message, and don’t promise the customer an outcome.

Can anyone redirect an OTP?

No. SiOnline can’t redirect an OTP, and nobody can do it for a fee. An OTP that can be rerouted on request isn’t a security measure. So treat anyone who offers to do it as describing something impossible, or something you shouldn’t agree to.

If something has gone wrong with a booking, contact SiOnline support. Phone support runs 24 hours, 7 days. The OTP verification guide also walks through the cancellation and refund sequence.

Questions agents ask

Who gets the OTP when I cancel a customer’s ticket?

According to IRCTC’s Agent Policy, an OTP SMS is sent to the passenger’s mobile number. The passenger shares it with you, and you then refund the cancellation amount to the customer.

What happens if I enter the wrong mobile number?

The policy says the passenger’s number must be correct on the ERS and attaches a penalty per case if it isn’t. Beyond that, ask SiOnline support what can be done for that booking, and don’t promise the customer a change.

Is the mobile number on a booking compulsory?

Yes. The policy says the mobile number of the customer or one of the passengers is mandatory when booking.

Sources

• IRCTC, Revised Agent Policy, effective 29 November 2019, Agent_Policy.pdf, retrieved 24 October 2026.

Policies change, so confirm them at the source before you act.