After IRCTC, DIPAM sets sight on IPOs of IRFC, RailTel

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved the listing of five railway companies - IRCON International, RITES, RVNL, IRFC, and IRCTC - in April 2017. Out of these five, IRCON International and RITES were listed in 2018-19.

New Delhi:The disinvestment department is hopeful of completing the listing of two rail PSUs, including the Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC), in the current fiscal after the successful listing of IRCTC.

It has issued a request for a proposal (RFP) for appointing a registrar for the listing of Railway's broadband and VPN arm RailTel by offloading 25 per cent of the government stake.

The plan is to list IRFC, the financing arm of the Indian Railways for mobilising funds from domestic as well as overseas capital markets, before March 31, as currently market condition is also favorable, official sources said.

"But the amount would not be much as the plan could be to offload 10 per cent which may give Rs 1,000 crore," sources said.

Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has got the online ticketing, tourism and the catering arm of railways, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, listed recently and is looking to raise up to Rs 645 crore through an IPO.

A total of 10 PSUs were lined up for IPOs this year to achieve the disinvestment target of Rs 1.05 lakh crore in the current fiscal.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved the listing of five railway companies - IRCON International, RITES, RVNL, IRFC, and IRCTC - in April 2017. Out of these five, IRCON International and RITES were listed in 2018-19.

The government had raised about Rs 466 crore through another railways arm, the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), in the first IPO of the fiscal year, by divesting 12.12 per cent stake.

The current year's disinvestment target is Rs 1.05 lakh crore. Earlier this month, the fourth tranche of Bharat 22 ETF, managed by ICICI Prudential, was subscribed 12 times, drawing bids worth Rs 23,500 crore and and the Government will retain Rs 4,368 crore from the offer, DIPAM said.