Shares of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the online ticket booking arm of Indian Railways, rose as much as 5 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 747.65 on the BSE in an otherwise subdued session after it turned ex-dividend in the previous session. IRCTC stock started trading ex-dividend from Thursday as it had fixed Aubust 19 as the record date to recognise eligible shareholders for the dividend payment for financial year 2021-22.
“The company has fixed Friday, August 19, 2022, as the ‘Record Date’ for determining entitlement of members to final dividend for the financial year ended March 31, 2022, if approved at the AGM," IRCTC said in a regulatory filing.
For the last financial year, IRCTC had approved a final dividend of Rs 1.5 per share and an interim dividend of Rs 2 per equity share in February.
Meanwhile, IRCTC in a clarification to stock exchanges said that it has floated tenders for appointment of consultant for digital data monetisation. However, the company added that no negotiations have taken place so far for the appointment of the consultant.
"As a commercial entity, the Company explores the business opportunities for new areas. As other business tenders, this tender has also been floated merely to appoint a consultant. The consultant will guide IRCTC and Indian Railways on monetization activities and advise on monetization value of Digital Assets observing various Acts or laws including lT Act 2000 and its amendments, User data privacy laws including GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and current 'Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 of lndia. Further, being a Government Company, it is a regular practice to float tenders," IRCTC said in a regulatory filing.
According to reports, IRCTC is looking to raise up to Rs 1,000 crore through monetising data as it has large bank of data related to every online railway ticket ever generated on its portal.
As of 11:32 am, IRCTC stock traded 3.4 per cent higher at Rs 737, outperforming the Sensex which was down 0.71 per cent.
