IRCTC shares crack 50% in 17 sessions; firm expects Rs 80 crore hit from coronavirus

NEW DELHI: Shares of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) have eroded over half of investors’ wealth in 17 sessions after the tour and travel industry took a hit amid rising cases of Covid-19. The scrip tanked to Rs 950.35 on March 20 from Rs 1,952.45 on February 25.

The railways cancelled another 84 trains on Thursday, which will not operate between March 20 and March 31, taking the number of trains cancelled in view of low occupancy and coronavirus pandemic to 155.

Indian Railways also suspended concessional tickets of various categories of people, including that of senior citizens, from March 20 midnight to discourage unnecessary travel in view of the coronavirus outbreak.


“A preliminary estimate, which may be a very rough, impact could be about Rs 70-80 crore during this financial year,” said MP Mall, Chairman of IRCTC.


“Ticketing has gone down by about 15 per cent. We were earlier issuing about 8-8.5 lakh tickets per day so there is a drop of about 13-15 per cent,” he added.

Earlier, the stock was on investors’ radar due to its secular bull run post listing. After doubling the price of the share – which had been issued at Rs 320 – on the day of listing on October 14, the stock delivered another 200 per cent till mid February.

Market experts are bullish on the prospects of IRCTC. Spark Capital on March 18 gave ‘Buy’ rating to IRCTC with a target price of Rs 1,290. IRCTC is 87.4 per cent owned by the Government of India and the only entity authorized by the Ministry of Railways (MoR) to provide online railway tickets, catering services and packaged drinking water in trains and railway stations in India.

The country on Thursday reported its fourth coronavirus death from Punjab as the total number of coronavirus cases rose to over 170.