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Informist, Monday, May 25, 2026

 

By Shruti Nair

 

MUMBAI – Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp.'s bottom line for the March quarter is seen rising on year, according to brokerages tracking the firm. However, the brokerages are divided on the sequential progress of the company's bottom line, with some seeing the bottom line falling on quarter. There is no such division on the public-sector travel company's top line, however. Revenue for the March quarter is uniformly seen rising on year and down on quarter.

 

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp.'s net profit for the March quarter is expected between INR 4.34 billion and INR 3.53 billion. The highest estimate for the bottom line is from Batlivala & Karani Securities India Pvt. Ltd. while the lowest estimate comes from Dolat Capital Market Pvt. Ltd. IRCTC had reported a net profit of INR 3.12 billion for the year-ago quarter and INR 3.84 billion for the December quarter.

 

Estimates for the company's revenue for the March quarter range from INR 13.79 billion to INR 13.83 billion. The highest estimate is from Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd., while the lowest is again from Dolat Capital. The company had reported a revenue of INR 12.69 billion for the year-ago quarter and INR 14.50 billion for the December quarter.

 

Prabhudas Lilladher expects the company's revenue for the March quarter to grow 9% on year. It sees the company's ticketing volumes for the quarter at 136 million, resulting in a convenience fee collection of INR 2.6 billion. The brokerage has pegged the company's revenues from internet ticketing at INR 3.9 billion and from catering at INR 5.8 billion, up 8.7% on year. Further, it expects the company's tourism business to have grown 6.4% on year to INR 2.9 billion.

 

Prabhudas Lilladher sees the company's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation for the March quarter at INR 4.58 billion. For the year-ago quarter, the company's EBITDA was INR 3.86 billion. The brokerage expects an EBITDA margin of 33.1% for the March quarter, up 270 basis points from 30.4% a year ago.

 

For the financial year 2025–26 (Apr-Mar), Prabhudas Lilladher sees the company's net profit at INR 14.23 billion, up over 12% from INR 12.67 billion in FY25. The brokerage sees the company's FY26 net sales at INR 51.38 billion, up nearly 10% from INR 46.75 billion in FY25.

 

IRCTC is a public-sector undertaking that handles ticketing, catering, and tourism services for the government-owned Indian Railways. It was set up in 1999 by the central government and operates under the Ministry of Railways.

 

Shares of the company have fallen over 14% since it announced its December quarter earnings in February. The company will announce its March quarter earnings Tuesday.

 

All three research reports on the company available with Informist have a "buy" or equivalent recommendation on the stock with an average target price of INR 755, which is nearly 41% higher than the current market price. Monday, shares of IRCTC closed at INR 537.85 on the National Stock Exchange, up 1.4% from Friday.

 

The following are the March quarter earnings estimates for IRCTC, in INR billion, from three brokerages in descending order of the net profit estimate:

 

Brokerage	Net Sales	Net Profit	EBITDA
Batlivala & Karani Securities India Pvt. Ltd.	13.80	4.34	-
Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd.	13.83	3.73	4.58
Dolat Capital Market Pvt. Ltd.	13.79	3.53	-
Average	13.81	3.86	4.58

 

End

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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