Employees' union stages protest against privatisation of IDBI bank

The constituents of the United Forum of IDBI Officers and Employees Associations, representing the employees and officers working in IDBI Bank, staged a protest and gave a memorandum to the secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) on Wednesday. They protested against the proposed sale of stake in IDBI Bank to private players by the central government and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), who are promoters of IDBI Bank.

“The move by the central government to sell equity in IDBI Bank is in stark contrast to the assurance given by the then finance minister in both the Houses of Parliament in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in December 2003. The central government had promised that IDBI would not hold less than 51 per cent stake in the bank,” says S Nagarajan, general secretary, All India Bank Officers Association.

Drawing attention to the problems, Nagarajan added that the move to lower the stake in the bank will affect the financial inclusion programme of the government, as there will be a decline in affordable loans to farmers and agriculturalists, along with a fall in micro-finance under Mudra loans.