The state-run railway companies IRCTC, IRCON and IRFC would be listed on stock exchanges soon, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday while presenting annual budget 2017.
IRCTC controls all the digital ticketing operations of Indian Railways, and post demonetisation has seen a 10 percentage point increase in the number of tickets booked online, from 58 percent to 68 percent, a substantial jump.
It’s also a company that holds the world record for the maximum number of tickets booked online in a single day, at over 1.3 million.
Interestingly, IRCON International, is already listed, but suffers from the typical public sector listing problem of not enough shares being disinvested making the stock illiquid.
IRCON is a 41 year-old company that has managed and executed large ticket infrastructure and railway projects across the world, from Afghanistan to Malaysia. It has annual revenues of $190
The government has proposed listing of PSUs revised mechanism for time-bound listing of PSUs. It also proposes to create integrated PSU oil major.
FM also said that while the Rail Budget is merged, the autonomy of the Railways will stay intact.
Meanwhile, service tax on railway tickets booked via IRCTC has been withdrawn.
