Govt decision on IHFL sale likely in 3 months: Official

Public sector lender IDBI Bank expects government's decision on the sale of its Pune-based home loan subsidiary -- IDBI Home Finance (IHFL) -- in the next three months, a top official said.

"The decision is now pending with the Government. It should be clear in the next three months," a highly-placed official with IDBI Bank told PTI here.

Early this year, the bank had shortlisted Dewan Housing Finance (DHFL), Religare Enterprises and Tata Capital as potential buyers for the sale.

DHFL is understood to have emerged as the front-runner in the race. IDBI Bank Chairman Yogesh Agarwal had said that the banks' board deferred the sale plan as it wanted more information about the potential buyers.

The banking major decided to sell its wholly-owned home loan subsidiary as it did not want to sell the home loan products from the bank and its home loan unit.

IDBI bank acquired the erstwhile Tata Home Finance in 2003 to exclusively sell housing loan products.