IRCTC stock slips 5% on bourses as government's OFS begins

The government's offer-for-sale (OFS) of up to 5% stake in Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) at a floor price of ₹680 a share opened for institutional investors

Representational image | Photo Credit: The Hindu

Shares of IRCTC fell more than 5% in morning trade on the BSE on Thursday as the sale of the government's up to 5% stake in the company kicked off.

The government's offer-for-sale (OFS) of up to 5% stake in Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) at a floor price of ₹680 a share opened for institutional investors on Thursday.

The OFS includes base issue size of 2 crore shares or 2.5% stake, with an option to retain over-subscription of another 2.5%, taking the total issue size to up to 4 crore shares or 5% stake.

Till 11.25 a.m., bids for over 8.75 lakh shares came in, which is about 0.05 times of the base issue size of 2 crore shares.

The indicative bid price is ₹683.87 a share, as per NSE data. Shares of IRCTC slid on the bourses on Thursday over Wednesday's closing price of ₹734.70.

The floor price of ₹680 for OFS is at a discount of more than 7% over Wednesday's closing price. The stock opened at ₹698 and fell 5.38% to a low of ₹695.20.

The OFS will open for subscription by retail investors on Friday. The government currently holds 67.40% stake in IRCTC.

Proceeds from IRCTC OFS will add to the disinvestment kitty of the government, which has already raised ₹28,383 crore from CPSE stake sale so far this fiscal year against the full year budget target of ₹65,000 crore.