Rail-related stocks in focus; IRCTC, IRCON hit new lifetime highs

IRCON International surged 8 per cent and was trading above its IPO issue price of Rs 475 for the first time since listing on September 28, 2018

Shares of railway-related companies which are state-owned, such as Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), IRCON International, and Rites, have outperformed the markets since the last Union Budget on July 5, 2019.

From the private sector, Hind Rectifiers and Siemens, too, outpaced the benchmarks during the period. The S&P BSE Sensex was up 3.7 per cent since July 5 last year. However, Larsen & Toubro, Kernex Microsystems, NBCC, and Texmaco Rail were down in the range of 13 per cent to 41 per cent on the BSE.

Indian Railways (IR) significantly increased its annual capital expenditure from