IDBI Bank, out of PCA, faces tightrope act between growth and reducing NPAs

Deck clears for government's stake sale; improvement in lender's finances key to invoke investor interest

It’s taken the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) more than a year to be convinced that IDBI Bank can indeed hold its head above water. With the RBI on Wednesday freeing the bank from the restrictive prompt correction action (PCA) framework, Asutosh Mishra of Ashika Stock Broking is confident that just as interest is gradually returning to public sector bank stocks, a similar outcome is likely for private lender IDBI Bank. “The rerating possibility is very high,” he adds.

IDBI Bank’s present promoter — Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) —had picked up 51 per cent at an average price of