Govt's stake sale in IDBI likely in FY18; awaiting good offer

There are no immediate plans of the Government to dilute its stake in IDBI Bank, at least in this fiscal and is likely to happen only in the next fiscal.

Moreover, the government would wait for a good offer before deciding on the stake sale, say sources to CNBC-TV18. It will be a prudent commercial call taken by the government.

The stake sale will happen only after the bank’s balance sheet is cleaned-up.

It is likely that the capital short-fall after the third quarter results for IDBI Bank may stand around Rs 5000 crore and the government may lend a helping hand by putting around Rs 1000-1500 crore before March-end.

Meanwhile, to help the bank shore-up capital there are clear instructions from the government to exit from its non-core assets. In that respect, the bank is already in talks with LIC to sell the 11 percent stake that it holds in Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). It is also looking at monetizing from other non-core assets.