Rahul Gandhi has criticised the government’s plan to sell a controlling stake in IDBI Bank to Fairfax, citing concerns over employee welfare, job security, and the potential loss of reservation benefits for SC, ST, and OBC candidates.
Rahul Gandhi Criticises IDBI Bank Privatisation
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Friday criticised the Centre’s proposed sale of a controlling stake in IDBI Bank, alleging that while banks were established during the Congress regime, they were being sold under the Modi government, and extended his support to the bank’s employees. In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi drew a comparison between the Congress and BJP-led governments over their approach towards public sector banking, questioning the proposed transaction and expressing solidarity with IDBI Bank employees. “During Congress’s time, IDBI was established—to build the nation’s industry. During Modi’s time, first the bidding was seen, then the price was set. During Congress’s time, banks were being created. During Modi’s time, they are being sold,” Gandhi wrote on X. “I stand with the employees of IDBI Bank,” he wrote further.
Employee Concerns and Privatisation Impact
In a letter addressed to IDBI employess Rahul Ganhi claimed that that employees service conditions would be weakened by privatisation. “Members of the IDBI Bank family, In March last year, a group of you came to meet me in Parliament House. You asked me a simple question: why is the government selling a bank that you have made profitable? I took that question to the Lok Sabha. I asked why a profitable public bank was being sold, and how its employees and depositors would be protected. The government gave no reason. Now it has decided to sell IDBI Bank to Fairfax, a Canadian company…When IDBI is privately owned, reservation for SC, ST and OBC candidates will go with it. Your service conditions, already weakened, will lose their last protection. The Congress has always believed in a strong public sector working alongside the private sector. Public banks are not assets to be sold off, they are tools to build the nation,” Rahul Gandhi wrote.
Details of the IDBI Stake Sale
The Union Cabinet on October 14 approved a deal worth Rs 52,878 crore (USD 5.56 billion) to sell a 60.72 per cent controlling stake in IDBI Bank to a subsidiary of Canada’s Fairfax Financial Holdings. Under the proposed transaction, the government will sell its 30.48 per cent stake, while Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) will divest 30.24 per cent. Following the sale, the government’s shareholding will fall to 15 per cent and LIC’s to 19 per cent.
Meanwhile, the government on Friday clarified that the reserve price for the strategic restructuring of IDBI Bank was neither reduced nor increased during the second bidding round, while the revised process helped raise the discovered bid price by Rs 3,917 crore, according to a Finance Ministry release. The ministry added that the procedure for the second or best-offer round was determined by the Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment (CGD), which had been empowered by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) to address procedural issues and make necessary deviations for the effective implementation of strategic transactions. Clarifying the process, the ministry said the initial bidding round was conducted in 2025-26 under the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management’s (DIPAM) indicative guidelines, which allow flexibility in complex strategic transactions. The clarification comes amid scrutiny over IDBI Bank’s proposed privatisation, with employees raising concerns over reservation provisions and protection of service conditions and pension benefits. (ANI)
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