After hitting a fresh 52-week low of Rs 368 apiece on March 30, the stock has sharply rallied in April so far to jump to Rs 615 apiece on Friday, the highest level seen by the stock since early January this year.
The sharp rally in the stock intensified after NDTV Profit on Thursday cited government sources to report that the company has divested three out of four hotel subsidiaries of its prime asset, the Ashok Hotel. The reported divestment is taking place under National Monetisation Pipeline 2.0, the report further said, adding that the monetisation will be executed via the public private partnership route (OMDA model), with private players handling operations and upgrades.
Ranchi Ashok has been transferred to the Jharkhand government for Rs 3.06 crore, the 51% stake in Punjab Ashok Hotel has been transferred to Punjab Tourism for Rs 79 lakh, and Hotel Jammu Ashok is to be handed over to the state’s government at a valuation of Rs 11.09 crore, the report said. It added that talks to divest Ashok Hotel’s units in Odisha’s Puri and Bhubaneshwar are at an advanced stage,
The Economic Times couldn’t independently verify the report.
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India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) is a PSU company under the Tourism Ministry that runs hotels and restaurants at various places for tourists, besides providing transport facilities. The government owns an 87% stake in the company, while The Indian Hotels Company owns an 8% stake.
The present network of ITDC consists of four Ashok Group of Hotels, one restaurant, four joint ventures with one hotel unit in operations, four catering outlets, three transport units, along with 14 duty-free shops at seaports and one at airport.The monetisation plan for ‘The Ashok’ hotels and ITDC’s other properties was first listed in the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) released by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in 2021.
India Tourism Development shares have rallied over 50% in one week, and more than 32% in one month. In the longer term, the stock nearly doubled in three years, and surged 65% in five years.
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