IDBI Bank stake sale may not be completed by March 2024: Govt official

The sale of stakes in IDBI Bank may not be completed by March 2024, a senior government official said on Thursday.

Department of Investment and Public Asset Monetization (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said the transaction is “on track” but there are aspects such as the RBI’s eligibility criteria that need to be met.

“We practically don’t think we can complete it (the sale of IDBI Bank shares) before March,” Pandey told reporters on the sidelines of an event organized by industry body Ficci here.

He was responding to a question on whether the department will be able to achieve the target of raising Rs 51,000 crore from disinvestments this fiscal.

The government, which owns over 45 percent stake in IDBI Bank, and life insurance giant LIC, which has a 49.24 percent stake, have jointly decided to sell 60.7 percent stake in the lender.

Pandey said achieving the disinvestment target is dependent on going ahead with key transactions such as those related to the sale of majority stake in IDBI Bank.

He said there is also “some uncertainty” over NMDC’s share sale, through which the unit is expected to generate over Rs 10,000 crore.

On the sale of shares of the Shipping Corporation of India, Pandey said the Maharashtra government recently issued an order granting exemption from stamp duty on an asset transfer transaction to precede the sale.

Meanwhile, he emphasized that disinvestment policy should not be viewed solely through the lens of budgetary revenues.

“Even if we have to take into account budget revenues, we have to consider whether we should target only disinvestment, or target both disinvestment and dividends, because money is fungible,” he said.

He also hoped that the public would discover the potential of LIC, where the share price has consistently been below its listing value.