IDBI sale: ₹75.99 valuation, ₹81 bid, missing papers

The Union government has approved the sale of a 60.72% stake in IDBI Bank to Fairfax Financial Holdings’ acquisition vehicle for ₹52,878.08 crore, at ₹81 a share. The government and LIC will retain 34% after the transaction, according to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs release. (PIB)

The arithmetic is public. The process is where the furniture starts moving. The official account says an earlier reserve price of ₹94.42 was not accepted after initial bids fell below it. Fresh valuations then produced an average benchmark of ₹75.99, and Fairfax’s ₹81 offer was declared reasonable. The government says the valuation used market multiples and asset valuation, excluded a volatile stock price ranging from ₹61.01 to ₹118.38, and remained “double blind”. (PIB; Upstox)

A reported account based on internal records gives a less tidy chronology: Fairfax’s revised offer was submitted on June 1 and opened on July 13, 2026, while fresh valuations were ordered later. The government disputes that implication, saying the methodology was reviewed in April and valuers began work in May. The bid-opening record, valuation instructions and the two valuation reports are not public. That means the sale is documented; the claim that officials changed the method after seeing the bid is not established. (Upstox)

Rahul Gandhi has opposed the privatisation, saying public banks are “tools to build the nation”, while IDBI employee organisations have sought protections for service conditions, pensions and reservations. (Business Standard)

The BJP-led Centre wants the country to trust a valuation process whose most important supporting papers remain out of sight. That is not transparency; it is a request for faith dressed up as procedure. The government can publish the records, or keep asking citizens to admire the blindfold.