Disinvestment

Rahul Gandhi backs IDBI Bank staff, questions sale to Canada's Fairfax

Amid the IDBI bank disinvestment row, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has expressed solidarity with the bank employees and questioned the government's decision to sell off the profitable public bank to a Canadian firm. The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha asserted that public banks are not assets to be sold off, they are tools to build the nation. In a letter addressed to members of the IDBI Bank family, Gandhi said that in March last year, a group of IDBI bank employees came to meet him in Parliament House and asked him a simple question as to why the government is selling a bank that they had made profitable. "I took that question to the Lok Sabha. I asked why a profitable public bank was being sold and how its employees and depositors would be protected. The government gave no reason. Now it has decided to sell IDBI Bank to Fairfax, a Canadian company," Gandhi said. Noting that IDBI began as a pioneering development bank, he said the journey to a commercial bank has been ...

Prospects of reviving asset sale

The disinvestment journey of the past decade has not been impressive. How it pans out now depends on some key factors

Best of Opinion: IDBI sale revives hopes for stalled disinvestment drive

Today's editorials and columns examine Sebi's revised closing auction framework, leadership vacancies in higher education, PSU disinvestment, insolvency delays and a book exploring Delhi's history.

IDBI Bank sale likely to close by fiscal end after RBI nod: Dipam secy

The strategic transaction of IDBI Bank is expected to be completed by the end of the current financial year, subject to regulatory clearance from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), DIPAM Secretary Arunish Chawla has said. The successful bidder will submit its technical papers to the RBI and present its credentials, including details required to meet additional compliance and regulatory requirements, he told PTI. After the RBI clears the successful bidder, he said, the share purchase agreement will be signed, paving the way for the transaction to be completed before the end of the current financial year. Addressing concerns over the interests of minority and retail shareholders, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary assured that their interests would be fully protected as part of the transaction. After the share purchase agreement is signed, the strategic buyer will be required to make an open offer to minority shareholders, providing them an ...

Maintained complete integrity for IDBI privatisation: Dipam secy Chawla

DIPAM Secretary Arunish Chawla discusses the ₹52,878 crore IDBI Bank stake sale, Fairfax's RBI clearance, disinvestment plans, capital receipts and the government's dividend outlook.

Best of Opinion: An opportunity to rethink the infrastructure of justice

Today's editorials and columns examine the IDBI Bank privatisation deal, India's steel ambitions, tribunal reforms, AI-driven infrastructure improvements and a book on the changing geopolitical order

CCEA clears largest financial sector FDI: Fairfax to take reins at IDBI

Toronto-based firm to acquire 60.72% for ₹52,878 cr, trim stake to 26% over 15 years

IDBI Bank acquisition puts Fairfax's CSB Bank stake at a crossroads

Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., led by Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa, is set to acquire nearly 61 per cent stake in IDBI Bank for $5.6 billion, marking the largest foreign investment in banks

Govt achieves 78% of FY27 divestment, asset monetisation target in Apr-Aug

The government has achieved about 78 per cent of the FY27 budgeted disinvestment and asset monetisation target of Rs 80,000 crore within 5 months of the financial year. The government has raised Rs 55,757 crore so far this fiscal through minority stake sale in 9 PSUs, including the big ticket ones like LIC and Coal India, as well as strategic sale of Indian Medicines Pharmaceuticals Corporation Ltd and remittances from SUUTI. More than half of the disinvestment proceeds came from the 6.5 per cent stake sale in Life Insurance Corp (LIC) which garnered Rs 31,515 crore. Further, a 2 per cent share sale in Coal India fetched about Rs 5,542 crore, while a 6.01 per cent stake dilution in NHPC fetched Rs 4,357 crore to the exchequer. Earlier this week, the government sold 6 per cent stake in Hindustan Copper to raise Rs 3,041 crore. The other entities in which the government disinvested its stake are Central Bank of India, NLC India, GIC, IRFC, Cochin Shipyard and Hindustan Copper. Besi

Why India keeps selling stakes in PSUs instead of privatising them

India is selling PSU stakes, but rarely giving up control. Why has the government chosen disinvestment over full privatisation? Experts explain

Disinvestment, OFS, strategic sale, privatisation: What's the difference?

From LIC's stake sale to Air India's handover, the government has used different routes to reduce its presence in state-owned firms

How has the govt's disinvestment strategy changed since liberalisation?

From strategic privatisation to market-based stake sales, here's how the government's disinvestment strategy has changed since economic liberalisation in 1991

Govt mops up ₹45,306 cr from disinvestment, asset monetisation in FY26

The government's combined mop-up from disinvestment and asset monetisation stood at Rs 45,306 crore in FY26, exceeding the Revised Estimates, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said on Monday. The government had pegged Miscellaneous Capital Receipts, which includes PSU disinvestment and public asset monetisation, at Rs 33,837 crore in the Revised Estimates (RE) for 2025-26. "Government of India realised an amount of Rs 45,306.05 crore in FY 2025-26, which included Rs 16,885.56 crore from disinvestment and Rs 28,420.49 crore from Asset Monetisation," Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. For the current fiscal, the government has budgeted Rs 80,000 crore under Miscellaneous Capital Receipts. So far in FY27, it has realised Rs 59,083 crore under Miscellaneous Capital Receipts, which included about Rs 6,367 crore from asset monetisation. Besides, Rs 52,716 crore has come from disinvestment through Offer for Sale of Central Bank of India, Coal India Ltd, Life

How India's PSU stake-sale journey has evolved: Explained in 5 charts

The latest LIC stake sale marks another milestone in the government's disinvestment drive. Here's what the data reveals about PSU stake sales, disinvestment receipts and major listings

Govt set to exceed key fundraising goal on state-firm stake sales

The long-delayed sale of the government's stake in IDBI Bank is also likely to conclude this fiscal year, potentially adding $2.5 billion to state coffers

We need a big breakthrough somewhere… a big project: West Bengal FM

West Bengal Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta says the state needs a breakthrough investment project to revive industry, restore investor confidence and drive economic growth

IDBI employees' forum opposes stake sale to Fairfax, seeks review

The employees' forum urged the government to disclose the strategic sale proposal, preserve public ownership of IDBI Bank and hold a parliamentary discussion before any decision

Govt fast-tracks disinvestment, garners 31% of FY27 Budget target in Q1FY27

The government has pushed the pedal on its disinvestment and asset monetisation plan in the current fiscal, raising about 31 per cent of its full-year budgeted target in the first quarter itself. Recording the fastest pace of disinvestment ever in the first quarter of any fiscal, the period between mid-May and June this year saw one offer for sale from the government every week for disinvestment of public sector enterprises. Faced with the stress of increased expenditure on subsidy due to a higher import bill, the government is making all-round efforts to garner revenues, especially from the non-tax side. Over the past six weeks, offer for sale (OFS) of six public sector enterprises hit the capital markets wherein the government garnered a cumulative Rs 18,561 crore. The six entities are Central Bank of India, Coal India, NHPC, NLC India, GIC and IRFC. Separately, Rs 6,367 crore has come from asset monetisation under the Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT). As against the ful

Centre's $2 billion state stake sales buck equity market slowdown

The government raised ₹18,560 crore ($2 billion) by trimming its holdings in six companies in the three months through June, marking its largest such quarterly haul in recent years

Centre's disinvestment receipts in Q1 FY27 exceed FY26 proceeds

Government disinvestment receipts have crossed ₹18,000 crore in FY27's first quarter, already surpassing the total stake-sale proceeds of FY26