RailTel Corp of India jumps 16% above IPO price in market debut

 Shares of state-owned RailTel Corporation of India Ltd opened nearly 16% higher in their market debut on Friday, showing continued demand for new stock market listings in the country.

More than a dozen companies, including Burger King India, opted for initial public offerings (IPOs) in the last few months of 2020 to cash in on a rally in Indian shares, fuelled by record foreign inflows and an improving economic outlook.

RailTel Corp, which provides telecom infrastructure and internet services along India's railway tracks and at railway stations, has an optic fibre network that covers over 58,000 kilometres and almost 5,900 railway stations, according to its website.

Read more: Rs 819-crore RailTel IPO to open on February 16; price band set at Rs 93-94

The company partnered with Alphabet Inc's Google in 2015 to bring free public WiFi to over 400 of the busiest railway stations in India by mid-2020. Google in February last year said https://bit.ly/2NXLICK by June 2018 that target was surpassed, and decided to wind down the partnership, citing availability of cheap mobile data and internet across the country.

RailTel Corp's shares opened at 109 rupees on National Stock Exchange of India in pre-open trade, after raising 8.19 billion rupees ($112.01 million) in its IPO. The company's shares were oversubscribed nearly 21 times https://bit.ly/37OQLwm.

RailTel posted a net profit of 1.41 billion rupees and revenue from operations of 11.28 billion rupees for the year ended March 31, 2020, according to its prospectus filing.