Centre’s ₹52,878-crore IDBI sale hides the arithmetic
The BJP-led Union government has disclosed the price and two valuation labels. It has not disclosed the reports, valuers or assumptions needed to test either.
The Centre has disclosed the price, but not the working behind it.
The BJP-led Union government has put a ₹52,878.0806181-crore price tag on its proposed sale of a 60.72% stake in IDBI Bank to 10955230 Canada Inc., whose parent is Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. It has also supplied the comforting parts: two independent valuations, a benchmark of ₹75.99 per share and a winning bid of ₹81. The arithmetic underneath remains locked away.
The Finance Ministry’s October 14 FAQ says five parties submitted expressions of interest, four qualified and two finally submitted techno-financial bids. It says the valuation used a market-multiple method and an asset-valuation method, including land, properties, liabilities and audited accounts as of March 31, 2026. But the government has not named the valuers, published either individual valuation, disclosed the peer banks or multiples used, or released the assumptions and asset-by-asset calculations. It has disclosed the labels and the answer, not the working.
That is not proof that the price is too low. The United Forum of IDBI Officers and Employees’ claim that the bank is being sold at a “throwaway price” remains an allegation. But the public cannot independently establish that the price is fair either. DIPAM’s request for proposals shows that confidentiality was built into the valuation exercise; it does not, by itself, prove that the final reports could not have been disclosed in whole or in part.
The Centre’s separate legal argument is clearer: the 2003 law did not prohibit dilution, and the Delhi High Court said parliamentary statements cannot override enacted law. Fine. Legal authority to sell is not a substitute for showing the public how the price was reached. The proposed transaction still requires the successful bidder to pass the RBI’s “Fit & Proper” assessment, so this is not a completed sale. The BJP-led Centre wants the public to trust a ₹52,878-crore decision while withholding the working papers. That is not transparency; it is a press release with a valuation-shaped hole in it.