The initial public offer (IPO) of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) received bids for 1.63 crore shares today, 30 September 2019, as against 2.01 crore shares on offer, as per the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) website data at 17:30 IST. The issue was subscribed 0.81 times.

The issue opened for bidding on Monday, 30 September 2019 and it will close on Thursday, 3 October 2019. The price band has been fixed at Rs 315 to Rs 320 per share. The minimum order quantity is for 40 equity shares and in multiples thereof.

IRCTC, a Mini Ratna public sector enterprise under the administrative control of Ministry of Railways, is the sole entity authorized by Indian Railways (IR) to provide catering services to railways, online railway tickets and packaged drinking water at railway stations and trains in India. Additionally IRCTC along with Balmer Lawrie & Company and Ashok Travels & Tours, are the three entities permitted by the Government of India to offer air ticketing service to different ministries at both the Central and State Government level.

Currently, IRCTC operates in four business segments, namely, internet ticketing, catering, packaged drinking water and travel & tourism. In FY2019, catering accounted for about 55% of the total revenue, while ticketing (12.4%), packaged drinking water (9.3%) and travel & tourism (23.3%) of the total revenue.

The company also operates executive lounges, budget hotels, and retiring rooms for the convenience of the travelling passengers on IR and are in line with its objective to build a 'one stop solution' for customers.

The object of the offer is to carry out the disinvestment of 2.01 crore equity shares, or 12.60% equity, by the selling shareholder. Hence, the company will not receive any proceeds from the offer and all proceeds shall go to the selling shareholder. The company also aims to benefit from listing the equity shares on the stock exchanges.

On a consolidated basis, IRCTC reported profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 272.60 crore on revenue of Rs 1867.88 crore in the financial year ended on 31 March 2019.