Govt plans 15-20 pc stake sale in Indian Railway arm IRCTC through OFS route: Report

Reports said quoting officials that the Government of India intended to sell a part of the paid-up equity capital of IRCTC held through the stock exchanges according to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Rules and Regulations.

Earlier, the media had reported that the Department of Disinvestment had initiated steps to appoint merchant bankers and selling bankers for the possible deal.

The last date for submitting bids by merchant bankers is September 10, reports said.

In order to meet SEBI’s public holding norms, not more than 75 per cent shares should be held by the government, which is currently 85.5 per cent.

According to a Times Now report, the deal would enable the government to meet its Rs 2.1 trillion disinvestment target, of which 1.2 trillion is expected to come from the disinvestment of public sector undertakings (PSUs) and Rs 90,000 from the sale of government stake in financial institutions.

In October last, the government raised Rs 645 crore by selling 12.6 per cent stake of the ticketing arm of the Indian Railways through an IPO which had received a massive response from the investors and oversubscribed by about 112 times overall.

At the time of IPO, IRCTC was valued at around Rs 5,000 crore.