IPOs for IRCTC, IRCON, RITES on course
Department of Investment and Public Asset Management calls for appointment of registrars for IPOs of IRCTC, IRCON and RITES
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New Delhi: The initial public offers (IPOs) of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp. (IRCTC), IRCON International Ltd and RITES Ltd are on course, with the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) calling for proposals for the appointment of registrars for their listing.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley had announced Indian Railways’ plans to list its subsidiaries this year after merger of the railway budget with the Union budget.
According to DIPAM’s advertisement for registrar’s appointment for disinvestment of paid-up equity through IPOs, the last date for the submission of proposals is 7 July.
DIPAM has already shortlisted investment banks to manage the IPO of Indian Railways Finance Corp. Ltd, another railways subsidiary.
While IRCTC has been a pioneer in e-commerce in India and handles almost 60% of railway ticket bookings, IRFC is the sole financier of railway projects by sourcing low-cost funds from the market. IRCON, the infrastructure and engineering arm of the railways, also builds projects overseas for governments and private parties.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is moving ahead with its divestment agenda and has budgeted to raise Rs72,500 crore through disinvestment in central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) in 2017-18, which is higher than the Rs46,246.58 crore raised in the last fiscal.
Also, the finance ministry has made an allocation of Rs1.03 trillion as equity support and Rs1.58 trillion as loan for its CPSEs in 2017-18.
According to DIPAM, the total disinvestment proceeds during the current financial year is Rs1,195.46 crore.
“Listing of public sector enterprises will foster greater public accountability and unlock the true value of these companies. The government will put in place a revised mechanism and procedure to ensure time bound listing of identified CPSEs on stock exchanges," Jaitley said on 1 February.
To abide by the mandated 25% public shareholding in listed companies and unlock their value, the cabinet committee on economic affairs on 13 April approved the listing of 11 CPSEs. The list also includes other railway subsidiaries such as Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd
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