The Modi government in less than 24 hours has rolled back its decision asking IRCTC to share 50 per cent of the convenience fee from online ticket sales, with investors hammering down its share price by 30 per cent on Friday.

The decision to seek 50 per cent share of the convenience fee was made by the railway ministry.

The damage control exercise, however, was undertaken by selloff secretary Tuhin Pandey who tweeted that “the ministry of railways has decided to withdraw the decision on IRCTC convenience fee”.

Immediately after the selloff secretary’s tweet, the IRCTC share price which had plunged nearly 30 per cent to a low of Rs 639 on Friday morning rebounded to close the day at Rs 845.70.

The stock recovered as market fears about reduced margins disappeared.

Analysts had estimated the convenience fee for IRCTC at Rs 740 crore for 2022-23 and Rs 780 crore for 2023-24.

Railway ministry sources said IRCTC approached the Railway Board with a desperate plea that its finances, severely hit by the Covid-19 disruptions, would take a massive knock if it had to pay the convenience fee.

They said the negative impact of the decision on the share market and played a role in the government’s rollback decision .

The ministry’s decision had sent a negative signal on PSU stocks forcing the finance ministry to undertake the damage control act.

Pandey said “our clear advice to all the departments has always been that any policy decision with respect to listed PSUs, should be taken with the interest of minority shareholders in mind. The railways has evaluated the pros and cons and withdrawn its decision”.