Shares of IDBI Bank Ltd. rose over 4% on Monday, September 8, trading at ₹93.02, as the lender’s long-awaited divestment process enters its last leg.
According to a Moneycontrol report, the final phase is expected to see a closely fought contest between the four shortlisted bidders — Dubai’s state-owned Emirates NBD, Prem Watsa’s Fairfax India Holdings, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Oaktree Capital Management. All four had earlier cleared the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) ‘fit and proper’ test.
Sources familiar with the process told Moneycontrol that Emirates and Fairfax could emerge as the most aggressive contenders, while Kotak Mahindra Bank remains actively engaged with its final rounds of due diligence. Oaktree has so far declined to comment publicly on its bid.
The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), which is spearheading the divestment, may invite financial bids as early as October once the last diligence round is complete. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently reaffirmed that the sale remains on track and is expected to conclude by March 2026.
The divestment, first announced in 2021 and formally initiated in October 2022, will see the government and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) jointly offload a 60.7% stake. Recently, SEBI approved LIC’s request to be classified as a public shareholder, capping its voting rights at 10% and mandating a reduction of its stake to 15% over the next two years.
With multiple global and domestic institutions eyeing IDBI, the upcoming bidding round is set to play a decisive role in shaping the lender’s future ownership structure.