IRCTC's double dhamaka on debut
Mumbai: In a boost to the divestment process, the shares of Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on Monday made a stellar debut on the bourses, zooming 127 per cent to close at Rs 728.60 over the issue price of Rs 320.
This is the first listing of a government-owned entity this fiscal and the IPO received 112 times oversubscription for an issue of Rs 645 crore-the second best in decades.
The mini-ratna firm, a subsidiary of the Railways, made a dream stock market debut listing at Rs 644, a jump of 101.25 per cent, rallied to Rs 743.80 to close at Rs 728.60 the BSE. On the NSE, it skyrocketed 95.62 per cent to Rs 626 in opening trade.
This is the best IPO show and also arguably the best debut after Salasar Engineering in July 2017 which had rallied 142 per cent on opening trade and Avenue Supermarts which runs the D-Mart chain of retail stores also closed over 100 per cent up on debut.
The last time a government company received such a welcome from the market was when it sold 12 per cent in Coal India in October 2010 when it was debt at Rs 340 against issue price of Rs 245.
"This is historic. We are the first CPSU to have achieved such a success on listing," IRCTC Chairman and Managing Director MP Mall said.
"We had thought the shares would be listed with a heavy premium but it has more than doubled. This gives us immense responsibility to maintain the quality and dedication in which we serve and keep the listing high," Railway board member, traffic, PS Mishra, said.
As part of its strategy to diversify its business offerings, IRCTC plans to develop budget hotels in key tourist destinations, Mall said, adding it is already developing a budget hotel in Lucknow.
"We are undertaking various initiatives for diversifying our businesses. We have already started work on our first hotel in Lucknow.
We have also bought a land parcel in Khajuraho in MP and the bids are already out for the project," Mall said, adding they have written to many States seeking land for budget hotels.