Within three weeks of the Budget announcement, the Finance Ministry on Monday started the process of listing three rail PSUs — IRCTC, IRFC and IRCON.
The government is considering divesting a portion of the paid-up equity share capital through an IPO and has sought Expression of Interest (EoI) from merchant bankers by March 16.
The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) is scouting for merchant bankers to manage the IPO of the three PSUs.
The government currently holds 100% stake in these three companies.
In his 2017-18 Budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that the government will put in place a revised mechanism and procedure to ensure time-bound listing of identified CPSEs on stock exchanges as it would foster greater public accountability and unlock their true value.
The government intends to raise ₹72,500 crore through disinvestment of PSUs in the next fiscal.
“The shares of Railway public sector enterprises (PSEs) like IRCTC, IRFC and IRCON will be listed in the stock exchanges,” Mr. Jaitley had said in his speech.
Of this, ₹46,500 crore would be raised through disinvestment of minority stake and ₹11,000 crore through strategic sale.
