Delta Corp shares fall 20% to a 33-month low after GST claims to the tune of Rs 17,000 crore

Shares of casino operator Delta Corp Ltd. have extended losses and are now at a 20 percent lower circuit after the company received tax notices totalling Rs 16,822 crore from the Directorate General of GST Intelligence on Friday. This demand is for the period between July 2017 and March 2022.

With today's drop, the stock is down to its lowest level in 33 months.

The first notice, for Rs 11,140 crore has been raised directly against Delta Corp. The other notice, for Rs 5,682 crore has been raised against three of its subsidiaries -- Casino Deltin Denzong, Highstreet Cruises and Delta Pleasure Cruises.

In an exchange filing, released close to midnight on Friday, Delta Corp claims that this GST demand is based on gross bet value and not gross gaming value. It plans to pursue legal remedies to challenge this order. It has also pointed out that such tax demands are not a company-specific problem, but an industry-wide phenomenon.

One must also note that the stock is currently in the F&O ban, which means no new position can be created in the stock.

The stock had declined 23 percent in a single-day in July after the GST council revised the GST rates on casinos higher from 18 percent to 28 percent.

July 12's fall resulted in the company losing market capitalisation to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore, which was higher than its entire financial year 2023 revenue of Rs 1,021 crore.

There has also been a major block deal in the stock, where 1.6 crore shares or 6.1 percent of the total equity has exchanged hands in a block deal.

Value of the transaction is said to be around Rs 236 crore. Buyers and sellers in the transaction are not known yet.

The stock is currently down 20 percent at Rs 140.35. The stock is down 35 percent so far in 2023.

Rohan Shah, Tax Counsel and Pratik Jain, Partner at PwC discuss Delta Corp as the gaming company got a GST demand notice of over Rs 16,800 crore.