After the news of Indian Railways using ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) aided system- GAGAN (GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation), in the Realtime Train Information System devices for keeping track of train movements and better management of railway traffic, Indian Railways is delivering big in the stock market.

As reported, compared to its issue price of Rs 320 per share, the shares of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) stood listed with a 100 per cent gain on the stock market. With its listing debut on the BSE and NSE, IRCTC recorded a highly successful debut listing as a PSU firm, with BSE witnessing a rise of around 118 per cent to Rs 698. On NSE, at the day’s high they also rose to 698.

The initial public offer (IPO) of IRCTC, open for subscription between September 30 and October 4, was subscribed about 112 times. The issue, reportedly, involved sale of 20.1 million equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each in a price band of Rs 315 to Rs 320. Additionally, the retail category saw subscription around 15 times, whereas the qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) segment got subscribed 109 times and non-institutional investors (NIIs) category 355 times.  Retail investors received a discount of Rs 10 per share and hence, the issue price for them was Rs 310.

After the listing, as reported, the market capitalisation of the IRCTC stood at Rs 107.36 billion on the BSE.

The fourth railway company to be listed on the stock market, after RITES, Rail Vikas Nigam and Ircon, the sale of the IRCTC resulted in earnings of nearly Rs 6.50 billion for the government. Presently, its stake is down to 87.4 per cent. The IPO was part of the government’s plan to sell off 12.6 per cent stake of the firm under its divestment programme for FY19-20.

 Additionally, Yes Securities (India), SBI Capital Markets and IDBI Capital Markets were the merchant bankers, while Alankit Assignments was the registrar for the issue. It is also reported that all proceeds from the IPO shall go be handed over to the stakeholders and not to the company.

The corporation enjoys monopoly in the field and has also taken up services that include non-railway catering and e-catering amongst other diversification options.

ISRO at Smart Urbanation

Dr. PG Diwakar, Director (as Deputy Head to AP-25), ISRO, recently addressed the delegates at Smart Urbanation, enlightening them about the benefits of Earth Observation Satellite, NavIC and various other space technologies.