IDBI Bank Stake Sale Expected in FY26: Govt

Mumbai, Oct 7 (PTI) The government is confident of pulling off the IDBI Bank stake sale in FY26 itself, Department of Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the annual GFF here, also said that there is no proposal to start charging for unified payment interface (UPI) transactions.

The IDBI Bank sale is progressing as planned and will be completed before the end of the current fiscal, he said.

It can be noted that the government is planning to sell a 60 per cent stake in the city-headquartered lender. At present, the government owns over 45 per cent stake while the state-run Life Insurance Corporation owns over 49 per cent.

Apart from IDBI Bank, Nagaraju said the government is also on track to carry out divestments in other state-run banks through offers for sale (OFS) issuances, wherein it plans to offload up to 20 per cent stake in four state-run lenders.

As per the government, the stake sale will help it comply with the Securities and Exchange Board of India's requirement that listed companies maintain a minimum public shareholding of 25 per cent.

The OFS will be carried out in Bank of Maharashtra, Indian Overseas Bank, UCO Bank, Central Bank of India, and Punjab and Sind Bank to bring the government stake below 75 per cent, as per previous disclosures.

Meanwhile, speaking at the same event, Axis Bank's managing director and chief executive Amitabh Chaudhry said the private sector lender will be very keen to lend to entities looking for acquisition finance.

He said the foreign lenders occupy a bulk of the market in this segment and added that private credit is a relatively new field in it.

Axis Bank is already present in the bond and loan syndication side, he added.

It can be noted that the Reserve Bank had last week announced a decision to allow domestic banks to do acquisition financing, agreeing to a long-standing request of the lenders.

Meanwhile, on the 'forms of business' move by the central bank, Chaudhry said the lender will await the final circular from the RBI before deciding its moves.