Arunish Chawla, Secretary in the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM)
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Financial bids for strategic sale of IDBI Bank are likely to be invited during the third quarter of the current fiscal, Arunish Chawla, Secretary in the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) said on Friday. The strategic sale has been pending for the last three years
“Formal consultations have been completed with qualified interested parties. We hope to invite financial bids in the third quarter of this financial year,” Chawla told reporters here.
Successful bidder of the IDBI Bank is likely to be announced by March, 2026. In the strategic disinvestment of IDBI Bank, the preliminary information memorandum (PIM) for inviting an expression of interest (EOI) was published on October 7, 2022. It was mentioned that the government will sell 30.48 per cent and LIC will divest 30.24 per cent, aggregating to 60.72 per cent, along with a transfer of management control to IDBI Bank.
Meanwhile, the secretary said the due diligence process has been completed and data room protocols have been completed for all the qualified interested parties. “Once the financial bids come in and successful bidder is selected, it will be sent to the RBI for final ‘fit and proper’ clearance.” Chawla said. Pursuant to inviting EoIs in October 2022, the DIPAM, in January 2023, received multiple EoIs for IDBI Bank. The prospective buyer of IDBI Bank has already been granted security clearance by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and cleared fit and proper evaluation by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
IDBI Bank is first of a kind strategic disinvestment of a bank which is owned by one government-owned entity while government itself owns a good number of shares (LIC holds 49.24 per cent, while the government has 45.48 per cent in IDBI Bank). On Friday, shares of IDBI Bank closed at Rs 90.17 a piece, down 2.68 per cent from the previous close on the BSE
Chawla informed that the Government has appointed merchant bankers and legal advisors for minority stake sale in LIC, and other public sector financial institutions. “Individual transactions can happen anytime over the next 3 years,” he said.
Watching Tariff Tantrum
Chawla also mentioned that he Finance Ministry is doing weekly capital review of all public sector undertakings and is working on strategies which can insulate Indian economy from geo-political risks. He said that public sector enterprises now account for almost 15 per cent of total market capitalisation and the government is confident they will continue with their capital expenditure.
US President Donald Trump has announced 25 per cent tariffs on India, plus a ‘penalty’ for its trade with Russia. The tariffs will come into effect from August 7. The tariffs have rattled equity markets with Sensex and. Nifty declining sharply for the second straight session on Friday, tracking deep losses in pharma, metal, and IT stocks amid trade-related concerns and widespread selling pressure in global markets.
Published on August 1, 2025
