Is IFCI destined to remain single?

Be it a stroke of luck or a jinx, the country's oldest financial institution, IFCI, will remain single , thanks to all the failed efforts to find a suitor or a partner to merge with.

Although it found a suitor in the Vedanta group company Sterlite Industries-led consortium for offloading a 26 per cent stake but could not accept the conditions of handing over the management control to the strategic partner.

Earlier, two efforts of IFCI to merge with PNB and IDBI ever since 2004, remained fruitless.

The IFCI is currently not mulling over restarting the process of finding a match after failure of talks between its board and the Sterlite Industries-led consortium for the stake sale recently, an official said.

Earlier, an expert committee headed by former SBI Chairman D Basu on restructuring of IFCI had recommended that it would be best to seek strategic partnership with another institution in similar business.

The committee suggested names such as IFC, Washington or the Asian Development Bank for partnering IFCI.

Earlier this month, IFC regional director for South Asia Paolo Martelli said, "We are talking to the institution (IFCI)".

Whether the IFC will pick up to 20 per cent stake in IFCI and the deal goes through or will this attempt be jinxed as well, remains to be seen.

Past plans to revive IFCI through the deal with PNB could not fructify as the bank had asked for a compensation of Rs 3,000 crore for acquiring the huge bad debts of the financial institution.