IDBI Bank Gets New Owner As Fairfax Wins 60.72% Stake Sale

Canada’s Fairfax Financial Holdings will take control of IDBI Bank as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared its ₹52,877 crore bid for a 60.72% stake. It is the biggest strategic disinvestment since Air India was sold.

The shares on offer belong to two holders. The Centre owns 30.48% and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) owns 30.24%. Both will remain as minority investors, with the government at 15% and LIC at 19%, a joint 34%. Management control of the lender will pass to Fairfax.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the deal, once completed, will be the single biggest foreign direct investment in India’s financial sector.

Second Round Of Bids Settled It

Fairfax’s win followed a failed first attempt. Offers received in 2025-26 stayed below the reserve price of ₹94.42 a share, and the government turned them down. It reopened the process in FY27 with fresh sealed bids, asking the qualified parties to put forward their best price. A Fairfax arm came out on top.

The exercise itself dates back to October 7, 2022, when the government floated a preliminary information memorandum seeking expressions of interest. Interested parties had to pass the Reserve Bank of India’s “fit and proper” test and get security clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs before being allowed to bid. Final calls moved through the Inter-Ministerial Group, the Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment and an empowered group of Cabinet ministers.

IDBI began as a public-sector institution and has been going through a long privatisation process. The sale takes the government a step further in reducing its ownership in banks and advancing its disinvestment agenda.