The government on Tuesday announced an offer for sale (OFS) in state-run Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC), seeking to divest up to 2% of its equity stake through a base offer and a greenshoe option.
The OFS will open for non-retail investors on Wednesday and retail investors will be able to participate on Thursday, Arunish Chawla, secretary at the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam), said in a post on X. Chawla said the government proposes to divest a 1% equity stake in the company, with an additional 1% stake available through a greenshoe option if investor demand is strong.
However, Dipam has not yet disclosed key details such as the floor price and offer size for the OFS. In recent stake sales, including those of Coal India, NHPC, NLC India, Central Bank of India and GIC Re, Dipam had included these details while announcing the offer.
IRFC, the dedicated financing arm of Indian Railways, raises resources from domestic and international markets to fund the acquisition of rolling stock and other railway infrastructure assets.
The government currently owns 84.65% of the company, or 11.06 billion shares. At Tuesday's closing price of ₹98.69 per share, its stake is valued around ₹1.09 trillion, while IRFC's total market capitalization is about ₹1.29 trillion. If the entire 2% stake is sold, the government's holding in the company will drop to 82.65%.
Mint reported on 13 May that the ministry of railways was planning to sell 2-3% minority stakes in its listed undertakings through the OFS route in FY27 as part of the government's disinvestment programme, under which it aims to raise ₹80,000 crore from disinvestment and asset monetization.
As of now, the government has raised ₹16,479.89 crore through stake sales in five public sector companies. These include:
