Govt clarifies foreign funds can own over 51% stake in IDBI Bank

This comes ahead of the December 16 deadline for potential bidders to submit EoIs for picking up majority stake in the private sector lender

The government on Tuesday said it will allow a consortium of foreign funds and investment companies to own over 51 per cent in IDBI bank, clarifying that foreign ownership criteria was for new private banks and were not applicable on existing ones.

This comes ahead of the December 16 deadline for potential bidders to submit expressions of interest (EoIs) for picking up majority stake in the private sector lender. 

“The residency requirement of the promoter, under the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) guidelines, is in the context of new/prospective banks. However, as IDBI Bank is an existing company, for the