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Government Aims To Raise Over Rs 300 Crore From RailTel IPO 

The Cabinet in April 2017 approved listing of 5 railway companies--Ircon International, Rites, Rail Vikas Nigam, IRFC and IRCTC.

A pointsman operates a railway crossing as a train travels past near Chunabhatti railway station in Mumbai, India. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)
A pointsman operates a railway crossing as a train travels past near Chunabhatti railway station in Mumbai, India. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

The government is targeting to raise over Rs 300 crore through an initial public offering of RailTel Corporation and has asked the telecom infrastructure provider to speed up finalising its books of accounts for 2018-19.

The Cabinet in December last year approved an IPO of RailTel Corporation India by diluting up to 25 percent government stake. “The plan is to launch the IPO by September. We are looking to raise about Rs 300 crore from the share sale,” an official said.

The Miniratna public-sector undertaking is one of the largest neutral telecom infrastructure providers in the country owning a optic fiber network on exclusive Right of Way along railway track. The company provides broadband telecom and multimedia network across the country.

The official further said the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management will be appointing merchant bankers and legal advisers for IPO of RailTel soon. “RailTel Corp has been asked to prepare their audited financial results by mid of June so that documents can be filed with regulatory authorities for approval,” the official added.

In December, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved a plan to list six public sector companies, including RailTel Corp. The government last month raised Rs 476 crore by selling 12 percent stake in Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. through an IPO.

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In current fiscal, DIPAM is also planning to launch IPOs of 2 other rail central public sector enterprises -- Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp and Indian Railway Finance Corp.

The Cabinet in April 2017 approved listing of five railway companies--Ircon International Ltd., Rites Ltd., Rail Vikas Nigam, IRFC, and IRCTC. Of these, Ircon International and Rites were listed in 2018-19 and Rail Vikas Nigam in April 2019. The government has budgeted to raise Rs 90,000 crore through PSU divestment in current fiscal, compared to Rs 84,972 crore raised in 2018-19.

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