IRCTC is the Indian Railways tourism arm which sells train tickets online, provides catering service to railways and provides packaged drinking water at railway stations and trains.
NEW DELHI – Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) will launch its initial public offering (IPO) on September 30. The government-owned entity is expected to announce the IPO price band on Wednesday.
IRCTC is the Indian Railways tourism arm which sells train tickets online, provides catering service to railways and provides packaged drinking water at railway stations and trains.
As many as 2 crore equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each would be offered for sale by the government, reports news agency PTI. According to market sources, the IPO would be worth about Rs 500-600 crore.
The proposed IPO is expected to see the government sell stake worth Rs 480 crore through an offer for sale, said a person aware of the development, according to LiveMint. The government’s stake will come down 12.5% after the stake sale.
IRCTC had filed draft papers with markets regulator Sebi for its initial public offer in August this year.
IDBI Capital Markets & Securities, SBI Capital Markets and YES Securities (India) are the managers to the offer.
The IRCTC website is one of the most transacted in the Asia-Pacific region, with a transaction volume of more than 25 million a month. According to IRCTC’s annual report, it sold train tickets worth R28,475 crore online in the year ending March 2018, growing 14% from a year earlier, but its overall income registered a dip.
Indian Railways in June had also given approval to the IRCTC, for running the Tejas Express between Delhi-Lucknow and Ahmedabad-Mumbai on a pilot basis. The trains would operate with a minimum of 12 coaches for one year.
