The share price of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) fell over 5 percent in the early trade on Friday after the company said that its revenues and profitability are likely to be adversely impacted for the April-June quarter due to the lockdown.

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The stock fell 5.65 percent to an intraday low of Rs 1,341 per share. However, it recovered slightly, trading 2.73 percent lower at Rs 1,382.55 on the BSE, at 10:10 am.

In a regulatory disclosure on Thursday, the company said that the restrictions on travel to curb the spread of COVID-19 led to less number of ticket bookings during March 2020, resulting in a drop in e-ticketing earnings through convenience fee.

“Due to the suspension of train operations by Indian Railways in the wake Covid-19 pandemic, booking of tickets on IRCTC e-ticketing platform (Website & Mobile App) has been adversely impacted. This drop in bookings is expected in the coming quarters also though in a decreased manner,” the company said.

The company expects the profitability during Q1FY21 to be adversely impacted and hopes that the business situation normalizes during the third and fourth quarters of FY21.

IRCTC handles the catering, tourism and online ticketing operations of the Indian Railways.

The impact of COVID -19 on the revenue from the catering business has been minimal in FY 2019-20. The first quarter of FY21 however, may be adversely affected, as presently, only a few trains are running with a limited supply of meals. "The company has, however, supplied around 1.7 crore meals at Rs 50 and 35 per meal on Shramik Trains/Special Trains from May 1 to June 22 run for movement of migrants across the states," it added.

On the Railneer business, the company said that out of 14 operational Railneer plants, 13 plants restarted production and supply of Railneer was ensured to Shramik Special Trains during the lockdown.

Meanwhile, Indian Railways has canceled all regular mail, express and passenger services as well as suburban trains till August 12.

However, all special trains -- 12 pairs running on the Rajdhani routes since May 12 and 100 pairs operating since June 1 -- will continue, it said.

Earlier, the Railways had canceled all trains till June 30.

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