Cabinet Clears IDBI Bank's Strategic Disinvestment; Fairfax Arm to Acquire a 60.72% Stake

14 October 2026National

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved on 14 October the strategic disinvestment of IDBI Bank, clearing the sale of a combined 60.72% stake to 10955230 Canada Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Canada's Fairfax Financial Holdings, for Rs 52,878.08 crore. The Government sells 30.48% and LIC 30.24%, cutting their joint holding from 94.72% to 34%. The Government called it the largest FDI in India's financial sector and the biggest strategic disinvestment since Air India. Conditions include a mandatory open offer, a five-year lock-in, retention of the IDBI brand for three years, and LIC paring its stake to 15% within two years.

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IDBI Bank began as the Industrial Development Bank of India, set up in 1964 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the RBI, and was reclassified by the RBI as a private sector bank in January 2019 after LIC acquired a majority stake | Fairfax Financial Holdings is headquartered in Toronto, Canada and was founded by India-born Prem Watsa | Disinvestment is handled by DIPAM, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, under the Ministry of Finance

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