IRCTC Shares More Than Double On Bumper Stock Market Debut

Shares of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) made a bumper stock market debut in trade on Monday. IRCTC opened for trading at Rs 644 on the BSE compared to its issue price of Rs 320 per equity share, registering a gain of 116.48 per cent. On the National Stock Exchange, IRCTC shares opened at Rs 626 and surged as much as 132 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 744.

IRCTC saw huge demand for its shares in the three-day initial public offering which ended on October 3. IRCTC's IPO to raise Rs. 645 crore was subscribed close to 112 times by the end of the bidding process on Thursday, data compiled by the National Stock Exchange showed.

Investors bid for over 225 crore shares of the company, compared with 2.02 crore shares on the offer, according to data from the National Stock Exchange. As per the data on NSE, IRCTC received bids worth Rs 72,000 crore at the upper price band.

IRCTC is authorised by the railway ministry to sell Indian railway tickets online, offer catering service and manufacture and supply packaged drinking water at railway stations and on trains across India.

IRCTC's website irctc.co.in is one of the most transacted websites in the Asia-Pacific region, with transaction volumes averaging 2.5-2.8 crore per month in the five-month period ended August 31, 2019.

IRCTC shares ended 129 per cent higher at Rs 733.