Waterways Leisure Tourism IPO

Waterways Leisure Tourism runs Cordelia Cruises, which at the time of the IPO operated a single ocean cruise ship, the MV Empress. The vessel has 796 cabins — one chairman's suite, five suites, 63 mini suites, 416 ocean-view and 311 interior staterooms — and a passenger capacity of 2,005 guests. It sails mainly to Mumbai, Goa, Kochi, Chennai, Lakshadweep, Visakhapatnam and Puducherry, and has also run itineraries to Sri Lanka, Phuket, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi. Buyers are mostly Indian leisure travellers; the ship is also sold for weddings and MICE events. Cabin prices in the prospectus run from ₹34,164 a night for an interior room to ₹151,111 for the chairman's suite. As of 31 March 2026 the company had 245 permanent employees and 730,819 guests had sailed since launch.

Nearly all revenue is cabin fares: cruise ticket sales were ₹5,288.56 million of ₹5,797.45 million revenue from operations in FY26, or 91.22%, with onboard spending (specialty dining, spa, excursions, Wi-Fi) adding 8.72%. The company sold 62.25% of FY26 cabins direct through its website, app and a 148-person call centre, avoiding agent commissions. Food and beverage, housekeeping, crewing and entertainment are outsourced; operating expenses alone were ₹3,193.12 million in FY26. The constraint is the single ship: fleet size was one across FY24–FY26 and cabin capacity 796, so revenue moves with load factor (84.99% in FY26 versus 91.63% in FY25) and average ticket price (₹10,979.86 in FY26). FY25's higher profit included an exceptional gain of ₹755.89 million.