The Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Waterways Leisure Tourism Ltd opens today and closes on Thursday at a price band of ₹769–₹808. The IPO is a fresh issue up to ₹585 crore and investors can bid for a minimum of 18 shares.

The offer is being made through the book-building process, wherein at least 75% of the net offer is allocated to qualified institutional buyers, and not less than 15% and 10% of the net offer is assigned to non-institutional bidders and retail individual bidders respectively.

The proceeds from the fresh issue to the extent of ₹480 crore will be for payment towards deposit/ advanced to lease rental and monthly lease payments its step-down subsidiary, Baycruise Shipping and Leasing (IFSC) Private Limited (Baycruise IFSC), while the balance proceeds will be utilized for General Corporate Purposes.

The company, which is one of the leading domestic ocean cruise operators in India offering luxurious and inherent Indian experiences, has garnered ₹263.25 crore from anchor investors ahead of the IPO.

The company informed the bourses that it allocated 32,58,045 equity shares at ₹808 per share to anchor investors.

Some of the marquee institutions that participated in the anchor include Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund, Cullinan Opportunities Fund, Zeal Global Opportunities Fund, M7 Global Fund, Nova Global Opportunities Fund, Stellar Growth Fund, ASAS Global Fund and Maybank Securities.

Company Information

The Company currently operates a cruise vessel, the MV Empress, and since its launch, 730,819 guests have sailed on its cruise vessel, which has covered more than 321,292.53 nautical miles along the Indian coastline and surrounding countries as of March 31, 2026. In Fiscal 2025, the company accounted for approximately 79% of the market share in value terms (Source - CRISIL Report). It’s cruise vessel primarily sails to domestic destinations such as Mumbai, Goa, Kochi, Chennai, Lakshadweep, Visakhapatnam and Puducherry.

It offers international itineraries to Hambantota, Trincomalee, and Jaffna (Sri Lanka), Phuket (Thailand), Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi (Malaysia). Its itineraries are designed to showcase India’s coastal regions and cultural heritage, providing guests with an enriching travel experience and establishing the Company as the go-to choice for luxury and cultural cruise holidays at sea.

Centrum Broking Limited is the book-running lead manager, and MUFG Intime India Private Limited is the registrar of the offer.

Brokers’ views

SBI Securities: WLT is one of India’s leading cruise operators and a good proxy to the Indian Ocean and Coastal Cruise industry. The industry is expected to grow at 20-25% CAGR over the next 5 years, recovering from a tepid FY26 which was marred by a volatile global backdrop. The company aims to add two new vessels - Norwegian Sky in FY27 (likely in Sep’26) and Norwegian Sun in FY28 - to its fleet, which would help cater rising industry demand. The newer vessels would have higher balcony cabin mix, aiding in better ARR per passenger. FY26 revenue has been flat and adjusted profits have declined by ~44% YoY which the management has attributed to expansion costs pertaining to the new vessels, including increased manpower and office space, amounting to about ₹40 crore. 

Accordingly, the current high overhead costs will get absorbed once the two vessels will get commissioned. At the upper price band of ₹808, the issue is valued at a P/E & EV/EBITDA of 112.2x/48.6x respectively based on FY26 on a post-issue basis. Given the company’s improved profit growth outlook, market leadership and robust industry growth expectations, we recommend investors to SUBSCRIBE to the issue for long-term investment horizon.

Published on June 23, 2026