IRCTC share price falls over 5% as government's offer for sale kicks off

Shares of IRCTC fell more than 5 per cent in morning trade on the BSE on Thursday as the sale of the government's up to 5 per cent stake in the company kicked off. The government's offer-for-sale (OFS) of up to 5 per cent stake in Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) at a floor price of Rs 680 a share opened for institutional investors on Thursday.

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

Till 1125 hours, 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 Rs 683.87 a share, as per NSE data. Shares of IRCTC slid on the bourses on Thursday over Wednesday's closing price of Rs 734.70.

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

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

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

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