After IRCTC, Indian Railways Comes With Another Big IPO, IRFC Bids To Open From 18 January

The Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the state-owned Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) will be open for subscription on 18 January for three days till 20 January, reports Moneycontrol.

The price band is set at Rs 25 to 26 per share. A minimum of 575 equity shares and in multiples of 575 shares thereafter can be bid by those participating in this maiden public offer.

IRFC, the dedicated market borrowing subsidiary of the Indian Railways, aims to raise Rs 4,633.4 crore through this issue.

The IPO of more than 178 core equity shares consists of a fresh issue of almost 118 core equity shares and an offer for sale of 59 crore equity shares by the Government of India. The eligible employees can avail the benefit of reservation of equity shares worth Rs 50 lakh in this issue.

IRFC is wholly-owned by the government acting through the Ministry of Railways (MoR) and registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as a Non-Deposit taking Non-Banking Financial Company classified under the category of an ‘Infrastructure Finance Company’ as defined under applicable RBI guidelines (NBFC-ND-IFC).

The primary business of the company is financing the acquisition of rolling stock assets and project assets of the Indian Railways and lending to other entities under the MoR.

Over the last three decades, IRFC has played a significant role in supporting the capacity enhancement of the Indian Railways by financing a proportion of its annual plan outlay.