Indian government to sell up to 5% stake in railway unit IRCTC

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism

14/12/2022 15:35

NEW DELHI, Dec 14 (Reuters) - India will sell an up to
5% stake in Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp (IRCTC)
 INIR.NS , the company said in a filing on Wednesday, as the
government seeks to meet a steep divestment target for the year.
    The government is looking to sell a 2.5% stake in the
state-owned firm at 680 Indian rupees per share, with an option
to additionally offload 2.5%.
    At that price, offloading 5% of IRCTC could fetch around
27.2 billion rupees ($329.90 million), a Reuters estimate
showed.
    IRCTC is the only firm authorised by the Indian Railways to
manage food services on trains and offer online railway ticket
booking services.
    In nearly nine months of the current financial year, the
Indian government has not been able to meet even half of its 650
billion rupees budgeted divestment target due to delays in
privatising some state-owned firms including Shipping
Corporation of India and BEML.
    Last month, the government received 38.39 billion rupees
from the sale of Axis Bank Ltd (AXBK.NS) shares held by a
government-investment vehicle.
($1 = 82.4500 Indian rupees)
 (Reporting by Nikunj Ohri in New Delhi, writing by Shilpa
Jamkhandikar; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
 ((shilpa.jamkhandikar@thomsonreuters.com;))