Centre Plans To Sell Up To 15% Stake In Indian Railway PSU IRCON

Edited by Nikita Prasad (with inputs from agencies)

08 Nov 2020, 07:52 PM IST

The government currently holds a 89.18 per cent stake in IRCON International Ltd.

The government is planning to sell up to 15 per cent of its stake in the railway engineering company IRCON International Ltd through an offer-for-sale of shares. The government currently holds a 89.18 per cent stake in IRCON International Limited. ''We are planning for IRCON OFS by December depending on market conditions. The stake on offer would be between 10-15 per cent," said an official. The railway engineering firm got listed on the bourses in 2018, and its initial public offering (IPO) had garnered Rs 467 crore. On Friday (November 6), the shares of IRCON International closed at Rs 77.95 apiece on the BSE. At the current market price, the government could raise about Rs 450 crore by selling 15 per cent stake. (Also Read: L&T Emerges Lowest Bidder For Bullet Train Project, Set To Win Order )

The government is looking to raise Rs 2.10 lakh crore through disinvestment in the current fiscal. This includes Rs 1.20 lakh crore from Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) stake sale and Rs 90,000 crore from sale of government stake in the financial institutions.

So far this fiscal, Rs 6,138 crore has been raised from selling the minority stake in CPSEs as the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed the big-ticket disinvestments such as Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL). The government is also in the process of selling a stake in Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp Limited (IRCTC) as well as the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) through the offer-for-sale of shares.

Meanwhile, IRCON has been awarded the work of 2251 RKM of railway electrification work worth approximately Rs.1900 crore by the Railway Ministry on competitive bidding among the railway approved PSUs. Recently, IRCON also emerged as the lowest bidder for the 82.15 km long Delhi-Meerut regional rapid transit system (RRTS) Line's Package 19 involving 25kV AC overhead equipment electrical supply works, after the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) opened the financial bids. NCRTC is the organisation responsible for implementing the RRTS project across the national capital region.