Protean eGov jumps 15% for 2nd straight day; now up 55% over issue price

The stock hit a new high of Rs 1,227.80 and has zoomed 55 per cent against its issue price of Rs 792 per share in just three trading sessions.

Shares of Protean eGov Technologies (PeTL), formerly NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure, hit a new high of Rs 1,227.80, as they surged 16 per cent on the BSE in Thursday’s intra-day trade, extending its rally post debut on Monday. On Wednesday, the stock had zoomed 20 per cent. Currently, the stock has zoomed 55 per cent against its issue price of Rs 792 per share.

PeTL is an information technology enabled Solutions Company conceptualizing; developing, and executing nationally critical and population scale Greenfield technology solutions collaborating with the government and has extensive experience in creating digital public infrastructure and developing innovative citizen-centric e-governance solutions.  Some of the key projects implemented by Protean include Permanent Account Number (PAN) issuance and enabling the universal social security system.

The initial public offering (IPO) of PeTL saw nearly 24 times more demand than the shares on offer. The institutional investor portion of the issue was subscribed 47 times, high networth individual portion 32 times, and retail portion close to 9 times.
PeTL is professionally managed and thus doesn't have any identifiable promoters. Public shareholders will continue to hold 100 per cent stake in the company.

Since inception and till June 30, 2023, PeTL has implemented and managed 19 projects spread across seven ministries and autonomous bodies ushering change in public delivery of services. It is primary engaged with Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology and Ministry of Education.

PeTL is a leading PAN service provider in India and had market share of around 45 per cent in the new PAN card allotments during 9M FY23. Further, acting as a Central Recordkeeping Agency (CRA) for the National Pension System (NPS), the company had a market share of 98 per cent in terms of NPS subscribers and 99 per cent in terms of NPS asset under management (AUM).

There are no comparable peers having product profile and business model to PeTL. Considering the dominant position in the domestic e-governance market, its capabilities to roll-out nationally critical and population scale greenfield technology solutions and attractive demanded valuations, analyst at Choice Broking had said IPO note.

PeTL’s domain knowledge for various industries, enabling policy framework with public and private sector collaboration to foster innovation in NPS and APY subscribers, online pan verifications with significant headroom for steady growth with 50-60mn PAN cards expected to be allotted annually till FY27 and NPS-APY subscribers expected to grow at CAGR of 16-17 per cent (FY22-FY27P) as growth strategy for the coming few years.

A secure, scalable and advanced technology platform having horizontal & vertical scalability, with consistent profitability, positive cash flows and limited capital expenditure and working capital required to scale growth in its key areas, Reliance Securities said in IPO note.