₹10,000 invested in IRCTC shares on listing is worth more than ₹38,000 today ⁠— the record could get even better

• Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) shares have zoomed 216% since its listing in October 2019.
• Analysts expect the stock to gain more in the months ahead as people travel more, with more vaccinations and fewer infections.
• Its recent tie-ups with tech platforms and new bottling plants are expected to boost revenue growth
• Check out the latest news and updates on Business Insider.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) shares have zoomed 216% since its listing in October 2019. Now, the ₹40,000 crore ($5.7 billion) company, which has a monopoly in ticket bookings and catering for the Indian Railways, plans to split the stock.

A stock split is the process of reducing the price, in turn, giving the existing shareholders more shares in the company. If you have 1,000 shares worth ₹100 each, and the stock split is 10:1, you will have 10,000 shares worth ₹10 each. It makes it more affordable for small investors to buy and sell shares.


The next question would be what led to the outperformance and rapid uptick in the stock? Investors expect that the economy will open up, people will travel more, as the vaccinations pick up pace and the pandemic peters out.

The recovery is already visible in its earnings of the last four quarters. In its report in July 2021, broking firm Anand Rathi said the shares could worth ₹2,850 apiece in the next one year.

IRCTC is a central public sector enterprise operating in 4 segments, namely internet ticketing, catering, packaged drinking water and travel & tourism. Aside from being the preferred portal for booking tickets, its subsidiary Rail Neer already accounts for nearly one in every two bottles of water sold in any railway station in India.

It plans to commission four new bottling plants this year and that would mean more supply to meet the demand as it revives.

Recently, in e-catering, the company has partnered with private tech platforms like travel portal Ixigo and payments startup MobiKwik to name a few.

“Going forward, management expects to reach the pre COVID level very soon after the resumption of Tejas Express, increase in convenience revenue to 25%, capacity expansion of Rail Neer and the impact of price hike announced in catering will play out by then,” the Anand Rathi report said.

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