rewrite this title and make it good for SEOCentre eyes completing IDBI Bank disinvestment by mid-2025, bids to be invited by March end

The Centre remains confident of completing the privatisation of IDBI Bank in the next financial year and expects the financial bids for the transaction to be invited by next month.

“The disinvestment of IDBI Bank is on track. We expect it to be completed by the middle of this year. Financial bids will be called by end of March,” an official source said.

According to sources, the due diligence process by the bidders is currently ongoing. They are now getting access to confidential data of the bank to assess its financial position and decide upon the bank’s valuation and their financial bids.

The Reserve Bank of India has already completed the fit and proper assessment of the bidders.

“When the IDBI Bank stake sale goes through, this will be the largest privatisation exercise since the disinvestment of Air India,” noted the source.

As part of the disinvestment of IDBI Bank, the Centre along with Life Insurance Corporation of India will sell 61% stake in the lender, along with the management control. This includes 30.48% stake of the Government of India and 30.24% of LIC.

The process of the bank’s privatisation has been long drawn, starting way back in January 2023 when the Centre had issued an Expression of Interest. Since then, the transaction has gone through several steps and processes with the financial bids being one of the very last processes.

For now, officials remain tight lipped about the realisation from the stake sale. For 2025-26, the Union Budget has estimated raising Rs 47,000 crore from disinvestment and asset monetisation and no separate figure has been ear marked from the sale of IDBI Bank.

The bank reported a 31% increase in its net profit for the third quarter of the fiscal at Rs 1,908 crore compared to Rs 1,458 crore in the same period a year ago.