Protean Shares Tumble as PAN Project Bid Fails

Whoa, did you see what happened with Protean eGov shares? Like, they totally crashed, down by a massive 20% on Monday. Ouch! So, what's the deal? Basically, the company got told they're out of the running for this big Indian government project. And that's a pretty big deal for them, you know?

See, Protean has been handling these PAN cards, which are like, super important for taxes in India, since way back in 2006. They apparently do a TON of them, like 60% of the market, and that brings in almost half their money. That's a lot!

But here's the kicker: Protean said on Sunday that the tax folks weren't into their bid for this new thing called PAN 2.0. This PAN 2.0 thing is a huge project, like $168 million, to make everything smoother and faster for PAN cards. So, Protean losing out on that? Yeah, that explains the stock taking a nosedive. It was their worst day since they started trading on the stock exchange back in February, tbh.

Now, Protean's managing director, Suresh Sethi, sounds kinda chill about it. He said they don't think it will mess up their current PAN business, like processing and sending out the cards. He even said they're talking to the tax department to figure out what's going on and that they see "limited impact" right now. Hmm, maybe?

But other folks aren't so optimistic. Like, Equirus Securities is predicting a much bigger hit. They think this revenue stream could pretty much disappear in the next couple of years, like a 75% to 100% drop! That's why they're saying to "sell" the stock. They figure that a lot of people who get PAN cards now through Protean's website will just go to whoever wins this new PAN 2.0 contract once it's up and running. Idk, seems like a rough road ahead for that part of their business.

It's not really clear who else was trying to get this project, though. And ICICI Securities thought Protean was the favorite to win, like, by a long shot. So, them losing out really makes things uncertain for their PAN business down the road. Makes you wonder, what will they do to bounce back?

Hey, if you're ever thinking about getting some help with business stuff, like setting up things or getting advice, there are some cool freelance platforms out there. You could check out Fiverr for all sorts of services, just saying! You never know, maybe you can find someone there to help you figure out a new plan, right?