Buy on dip: IIFL Securities sees over 35% upside in this LIC's latest stock pick

The country’s biggest institutional investor Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) acquired more than 1% stake in the state-owned Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) during the quarter ended March 31. The latest data available with exchanges showed that the insurance behemoth had 17,86,250 shares, or 1.12%, stake in the company. It was not among the key shareholders in the previous quarter.

Shares of IRCTC were trading 7.38% down at Rs 1,603 at around 1.10 pm (IST). On the other hand, the benchmark BSE Sensex traded 1,708 points, or 3.54%, lower at 47,882 at around the same time.

Of late, brokerage firm IIFL Securities on March 31 initiated the coverage on IRCTC with a price target of Rs 2,174, indicating an upside of over 35% from the current market price.

“IRCTC is a play on the normalisation of activity post-Covid, and we estimate 24% EPS Cagr in FY20-23, driven by accelerated adoption of online ticketing, conversion of unreserved coaches to
2S class, increase in capacity in the packaged drinking water segment and resumption of private trains,” the brokerage said.

IRCTC, set up in 1999, is 67.4% owned by the Government of India (GoI) and is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways. IRCTC was 100% owned by the GoI until its IPO in October 2019, when the government sold 12.6% stake.

It was subsequently followed by an OFS in December 2020, in which the government sold another 20% stake. IRCTC is the only entity authorised by the Indian Railways (IR) to provide catering services to railways, online railway ticketing services and packaged drinking water at railway stations and inside trains. IRCTC operates in four business segments, namely internet ticketing, catering, packaged drinking water under the Rail Neer brand, and travel & tourism.