Did IRB Infrastructure shares really crash 50%? Here's why you should ignore the massive plunge

The shares of IRB Infrastructure Developers appeared to have crashed by around 50% in a single session on Monday, as the stock adjusted to a 1:1 bonus issue. In reality, the stock rallied 11% after turning ex-date for the bonus issue.

After closing at Rs 40.93 per share on Friday, the stock opened at Rs 20.56 today on the NSE. The stock then surged nearly 11% to trade at Rs 22.7 apiece. The company currently has a market capitalisation of nearly Rs 27,000 crore.

While announcing its quarterly results back in February this year, IRB Infrastructure Developers announced a 1:1 bonus issue along with a third interim dividend of Rs 0.07 per equity share for FY26. The record date for the bonus issue was later set at April 1 (Wednesday).


Since markets will remain closed on March 31 (Tuesday) on account of Shri Mahavir Jayanti, the stock effectively turned ex-date for the bonus issue today (ex-date usually occurs one business day before the record date).

Bonus issues consist of free shares distributed by a company from its reserves and are often seen as a sign of strong financial health and growth prospects. While the issue of bonus shares increases the total number of outstanding shares, it does not change the company’s market capitalisation. However, it can improve liquidity and affordability, allowing more investors to add shares of the company to their portfolio.

IRB Infrastructure Developers is an integrated private toll roads and highways infrastructure developer in India. It has an asset base of approximately Rs 80,000 crore across 12 states, according to its website.

Earlier last week, the company announced that its gross toll collections grew 22% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 746 crore for February 2026. This is higher than the Rs 613.8 crore collected in February last year.
“Robust traffic growth across our assets and the corresponding rise in toll revenue, including the full-month contribution from the newly added IRB Harihara Corridor (TOT-17), are encouraging. Collection trends for TOT-17 are in line with our bid estimates. Toll collection growth has strengthened from about 15% last month to around 22% in the current month. With the likely commencement of tolling on another new TOT asset, we expect the upward momentum in toll revenues to continue in the coming months,” said Amitabh Murarka, Dy CEO of the company.

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