Railway Shares Shares Surge After Move To Monetise Ticket Data

Shares of the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the ticket booking arm of the Indian Railways, continued upward movement for the second day in a row.

Starting from Thursday's closing of ₹ 723, IRCTC shares rose close to 5 per cent intraday to touch a high of ₹752.75.

From Rs 671.65 apiece at the start of trading on Thursday, IRCTC shares jumped to ₹ 752.75 piece levels in the last two sessions, recording close to a 12 per cent gain.

However, the share prices recorded some correction after touching the intraday high and fell to ₹ 729 apiece at the end of the day's trade.

The strong market sentiment for IRCTC shares comes in the backdrop of the PSU gearing up to issue dividends and a media report claiming that the company had floated a tender to sell passengers data. The selling of data is likely to help IRCTC to generate additional revenue that would enable it to further consolidate margins.

Issuing a clarification on the media report, IRCTC stated that it had floated a tender for merely appointing a consultant. "As a commercial entity, the company explores business opportunities for new areas. As other business tenders, this tender has also been floated merely to appoint a consultant," IRCTC said in its statement. IRCTC added that the consultant would guide IRCTC and the Indian Railways on monetization activities and advise on the monetisation value of digital assets legally.

IRCTC posted a net profit of ₹ 246 crores in Q1 for FY 23, a surge of 196 per cent from the corresponding quarter of last financial year. The company had recorded ₹ 82.5 crores as net profit last year. IRCTC's revenue from operation also surged 251 per cent to ₹ 853 crores in Q1 of 23 compares to Rs 243 crore in Q1 FY22.