Shares of Indian railways arm jump twofold on debut

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism

14/10/2019 06:02

BENGALURU, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Shares of Indian Railway
Catering and Tourism Corp Ltd  INIR.NS  (IRCTC) more than
doubled their value on market debut on Monday, after the
state-run company saw a bumper initial public offering (IPO)
that was subscribed nearly 112 times.
    Shares opened at 626 rupees before rising as high as 698
rupees each, as of 0434 GMT, 118.13% higher than their issue
price of 320 rupees.
    The overwhelming response comes amid slowing growth in
Asia's third-largest economy, which has hit sales of everything
from cars to cookies, prompting the government to step in with
deep cuts in corporate taxes and a raft of other measures to
revive growth.
    The IPO was issued to raise 6.45 billion rupees ($91.09
million), with the Indian government retaining a 87.4% stake in
the company.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N26N1T9
    IRCTC has the sole authority to sell railway tickets online,
offer catering service and exclusively manufacture and supply
packaged drinking water at railway stations and on trains in
India.
    The company operates in four business segments and also
offers e-catering services to passengers via a mobile phone
application.

    ($1 = 70.8100 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Derek Francis in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry
Jacob-Phillips)
 ((derek.francis@thomsonreuters.com; +91-9986311363; Tweet to
@derekfrancis089 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-francis/;))