Shares of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) rose 3% on May 29 as investors digested the company’s healthy set of numbers for the March quarter.
Now while investors initially cheered for IRCTC’s healthy earnings, profit booking soon trickled in, pulling the stock off its day’s high of Rs 800. That said, trading volumes in the counter did witness a sharp uptick. As many as 33 lakh shares changed hands on the exchanges thus far, already exceeding the one-month daily traded average of 12 lakh shares.
While IRCTC reported a 26% on year jump in its net profit to Rs 358 crore, much of this gain was carried by a one-off gain of Rs 45.68 crore that the company encountered in Q4. In comparison, it had reported a net profit of Rs 284 crore in the same period last year.
Revenue for the quarter grew nearly 10% to Rs 1,269 crore, from Rs 1,152 crore a year earlier. Despite growth in topline as well as bottomline, the company’s operating margins edged slightly lower to 30.39% in Q4, down from 31.47%, a year ago.
For the full financial year ended March 2025, IRCTC posted an 18% increase in net profit, coming in at Rs 1,315 crore. Annual revenue rose just under 10% to Rs 4,675 crore.
Looking at business segments, catering revenue held steady at Rs 529 crore for the March quarter, nearly unchanged from last year. Packaged drinking water under the Rail Neer brand saw an uptick in revenue to Rs 96 crore, up from Rs 83 crore. The web ticketing arm reported Rs 372 crore, up from Rs 342 crore, while the tourism segment delivered the strongest growth, surging to Rs 274 crore from Rs 199 crore.
IRCTC shares have gained around 16% over the past three months, supported by consistent financial performance and stable growth across core business lines.