Listing of rail PSUs on track; decision on IRCTC service charge by June 30

With concerns still looming over Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation’s (IRCTC's) service charge, the listing plans of three railway public sector undertakings – Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC), IRCON, and IRCTC – are on track.

According to sources close to the development, bid managers have been appointed for all three companies and the government is likely to take a call on IRCTC's service charge by June 30. Service charges on online train tickets were exempted from November 23, 2016, to March 31 this year in order to boost digital mode of transactions among passengers. This was later extended to June 30.

"We are of the belief that the government is likely to withdraw this incentive after June 30, as the company is about to be listed. This would affect the valuation of the company," said a senior railway official close to the development. The plan for listing the three PSUs was announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech.

For IRFC, SBI Cap, ICICI Securities, IDFC, and HSBC have been appointed as bid managers. SBICAP, IDBI, and Yes Bank are in charge of IRCTC, while IDBI will be the manager for IRCON. "The listing is likely to happen within six months time. DIPAM (Department of Investment and Public Asset Management) has asked these companies to speed up the work and come out with a valuation soon," the official added. An annual waiver of service charge will lead to a loss of about Rs 500 crore in IRCTC's revenue. Before the offer was rolled out, IRCTC used to charge Rs 40 per ticket for bookings in air-conditioned classes and Rs 20 per ticket in sleeper class.

Service charge was a major revenue source for IRCTC as the company posted Rs 551 crore in income from railway ticketing in 2015-16, up from Rs 256 crore in 2014-15. Out of its monthly share of service charge, 50 per cent used to go to the railways’ kitty.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC)