The government succeeded in divesting 20 per cent stake in the railway ticketing firm, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) in the recently concluded offer for sale (OFS). The retail investors lapped up all the shares up for sale and the institutional investor portion was subscribed 1.34 times. Following the share sale, the government’s stake in IRCTC will reduce to 67.4 per cent.
The Centre had set floor price for the OFS, which was held on Thursday and Friday, at ₹ 1,367. But most bids came around ₹ 1,378, as per data provided by the stock exchanges.
Prior to the offer for sale, the government held 87.4 per cent stake in the ₹ 2,275-crore public sector railway undertaking.
RCTC provides catering services, online railway tickets and packaged drinking water at railway stations and trains across India.
IRCTC was listed on the stock exchanges in October 2019. The company had raised ₹ 645 crore through an initial public offering (IPO). Three other railway companies, i.e. IRCON International, RITES and Rail Vikas Nigam are also listed on the bourses, while IRFC is likely to be put on the block soon.
