Shares of IRCTC today surged as much as 7 per cent to hit a new high of Rs 2,014 despite a weak Mumbai market. In a communication to exchanges, IRCTC on Wednesday said that it will operate trips through Golden Chariot luxury trains from 14th March: Pride of Karnataka (6 Nights/7 Days) starting from Bengaluru on covering Bandipur National Park, Mysore, Halebidu, Chikmagalur, Hampi, Aihole, Pattadakal, Goa and ending in Bengaluru.
From 21st March, IRCTC will also operate Jewel of South starting from Bengaluru covering Mysore, Hampi, Mahabalipuram and ending in Bengaluru.
Recently,. the Ministry of Railways gave permission to Zonal Railways to decide on reopening of retiring rooms at railway stations.
The Railway Board has already allowed operations of retiring rooms, Rail Yatri Niwas, and hotels managed by IRCTC.
Several special express and passenger train services have been introduced in a phased manner across the country.
IRCTC is one of the top midcaps picks of Dolat Capital with a target price of Rs 2,450. In a report last month, Dolat said: “IRCTC offers an interesting and unmatched opportunity to exclusively participate in the growth story of Indian Railway (IR) traffic growth, Train tourism, and Hospitality (Catering + Packaged Drinking Water, Retiring Room). IRCTC has multiple drivers that would ensure sustained strong growth and improved operating performance over a period of time.”
“Factoring in the opportunities across business segments and the huge scale/multitude opportunities that Railways offers, we expect a revenue/earnings CAGR of 16%/22% over FY20-25E, and assign Buy rating on the stock with Target Price of Rs. 2,450 (valuing at 40x PER on FY23E EPS of Rs. 61.3),” the brokerage said.
In the December quarter, IRCTC had reported a 62 per cent decline in its profit after tax for the quarter ended in December to Rs 78 crore, impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
IRCTC is the only entity authorized by Indian Railways to provide catering services, online railway tickets, and packaged drinking water at railway stations and trains in India. The company saw its total revenue nosedive to Rs 245.23 crore during the third quarter under review as against Rs 734.98 crore in the year-ago period.