8% Fall On IRCTC Shares As OFS Begins

Shares of Government owned Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), dropped the most on record after the central government, announced its plan to sell a stake in the company through an Offer-for-Sale (OFS).

The government will sell 20% of its shareholding in IRCTC. The floor price of the Offer for Sale, which opened for subscription to non-retail investors on Thursday, has been set at Rs 1,367 apiece, a 16% discount to Wednesday's closing price of the stock. The OFS will open for retail investors on Friday.

The government owned company runs a virtual monopoly business for the Indian Railways by offering catering services, online tickets and packaged drinking water, under the brand name Rail Neer.

At present the company operates though 14 Rail Neer Plants at various locations. Apart from this it has 11 base kitchens at located.

To facilitate the public at large, IRCTC also operates a website that has offerings including Rail based Packages, Hotels, Railway Retiring Rooms. The shares of IRCTC were last trading at Rs 1491, down almost 8 per cent over the previous days close. Analysts see the stock continuing to come under some pressure, as the OFS is way below the market price. In any case , the stock may remain volatile in the next few trading sessions.