Finance Minister Jaitley kickstarts listing process of IRCTC, IRFC and IRCON

Within three weeks of 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 initial public offering (IPO) of the three PSUs, which is under the administrative control of the Rail Ministry.

The government currently holds 100 per cent stake in these three companies.

In his 2017-18 Budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley 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 the it will foster greater public accountability and unlock their true value.

“The shares of Railway public sector enterprises (PSEs) like IRCTC, IRFC and IRCON will be listed in the stock exchanges,” Jaitley had said in his speech.

The government intends to raise Rs 72,500 crore through disinvestment of PSUs in the next fiscal.

Of this, Rs 46,500 crore would be raised through disinvestment of minority stake and Rs 11,000 crore through strategic sale.