Shares of MSTC were locked in the 20 per cent upper circuit at Rs 338.80 on the BSE in Monday’s trade at 02:34 PM backed by heavy volumes. A combined 5.83 million equity shares representing 8.3 per cent of total equity of the company had changed hands at the counter on the NSE and BSE. There were pending buy orders for a combined 350,000 shares on these exchanges, data shows.
MSTC, a Mini-Ratna Category-I Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) of Government of India (GoI), was set up in September, 1964 for regulating export of ferrous scrap from India. Currently, the company is under the Ministry of Steel, GoI and is engaged in trading of various items and e-commerce services viz. e-auctions and e-procurement services.
MSTC plays a very important role as a service provider in e-Commerce and is a market leader in this sector. It has the distinction of serving majority of Central/State Government Departments, PSUs and a few leading Private Institutions for providing transparent, fair & seamless e-Commerce services to its clients.
In April-September period of the financial year 2022-23 (H1FY23), MSTC reported a robust 90.7 per cent year-on-year (YoY) jump in its consolidated profit after tax at Rs 117.96 crore, despite 7.6 per cent YoY decline in total revenue of Rs 463.72 crore over the previous year period. The company’s revenue of e-commerce segment grew 34.9 per cent YoY at Rs 167.71 crore.
MSTC is a nominated agency for allocation of coal blocks and all major mineral blocks in the country through its customized e-Commerce portal. The minor mineral blocks allocation is also happening through MSTC’s e-Commerce portal in the various states in the country.
The recent initiative of the Government for sale of mineral blocks, both major and minor, through e-auction has also opened window of opportunity for MSTC and it has signed agreement with most of the State Governments which may yield positive results to the revenue of MSTC. MSTC is exploring e-auction of sand mining block in other states in line with Uttar Pradesh model, the company said in its FY22 annual report.
MSTC has emerged as a major standalone e-commerce service provider in the country. With its foray into new and diverse business verticals including the flagship projects of the GoI, it has an immense potential to grow multifold in this arena, the company said.
MSTC through PPP model via joint venture route is spearheading the initiatives in End of Life Vehicles (ELV) sector, its pivotal role in setting up recycling plant in the automobile sector, e-waste and solid waste management sector which is a sunrise sector. MSTC is exploring possibilities for entering into more areas in recycling field as a step towards circular economy, the company said.