IRCTC shares climb 4% as Railways revises prices of standard meals

Shares of state-owned Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) gained 4 per cent at Rs 899 on the BSE on Tuesday after the Ministry of Railways revised tariff of standard meals on static units in railway stations.

In an exchange filing yesterday, IRCTC said the Ministry of Railways had revised the tariffs. According to the new system, veg breakfast will cost Rs 35, non-veg breakfast at Rs 45, standard veg meal at Rs 70, standard meal (egg curry) at Rs 80, standard meal (chicken curry) at Rs 120, veg Biryani (350 gm) at Rs 70, egg Biryani (350 gm) at Rs 80, chicken Biryani (350 gm) at Rs 100, and snack meal (350 gm) at Rs 50

Besides, the company has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Hotel and Restaurant Association of Northern India for listing the association’s member hotels and their room rate inventory for sales on the IRCTC portal.

IRCTC debuted at the bourses on October 14, 2019 and saw its shares more than double during the listing. The stock ended its debut day at Rs 733, with a gain of Rs 413, or 129 per cent, over its initial public offering (IPO) price of Rs 320. IRCTC's listing-day gain is the highest-ever for a state-owned company. Since then, the stock has gained 18.65 per cent to date, comfortably outperforming the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex which has gained 9 per cent in the same time period.

As a Central Public Sector Enterprise wholly owned by the Government of India and under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways, IRCTC is the only entity authorized by Indian Railways to provide catering services to railways, online railway tickets and packaged drinking water at railway stations and trains in India.

IRCTC was incorporated with the objective to upgrade, modernize and professionalize catering and hospitality services, managing hospitality services at railway stations, on trains and other locations and to promote international and domestic tourism in India through public-private participation.

At 10:20 AM, the stock was trading 2.8 per cent higher at Rs 888.60 as compared to a flat Sensex. The counter registerd spurt in volumes by more than 1.5 times its 20-day average. A combined total of 8.9 lakh shares have changed hands on the NSE and BSE so far.

Bombay Stock Exchange - BSE

National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE)