The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the sale of a 60.72 per cent stake in IDBI Bank to 10955230 Canada Inc, a subsidiary of the Canadian group Fairfax Financial Holdings, for Rs 52,878.08 crore, according to Business Today and Business Standard. The decision was taken on Wednesday, 14 October 2026, and is reported by search summaries of those articles, which IndiaX24 could not open in full.
The price is Rs 81 per share, which is above the benchmark fair value of Rs 75.99 per share set by two independent valuation agencies, according to the reports. The premium is Rs 5.01, or about 6.6 per cent, a calculation by IndiaX24 from the two prices.
The stake is made up of two sellers. The government of India will sell 30.48 per cent and the Life Insurance Corporation of India will sell 30.24 per cent, according to the reports. Together the two holdings come to 60.72 per cent, which matches the total in the headline.
The deal’s numbers can be used to estimate the size of the bank. If 60.72 per cent is worth Rs 52,878.08 crore, then 100 per cent at the same price would be about Rs 87,087 crore, a division by IndiaX24 that ignores any control premium or later price changes. Dividing Rs 52,878.08 crore by Rs 81 a share gives about 653 crore shares being sold, and 653 crore shares as a 60.72 per cent stake implies a total share count of about 1,075 crore shares, which are IndiaX24’s own calculations.
The reports describe it as significant. Once completed, the transaction will be the largest foreign direct investment in India’s financial sector and the biggest strategic disinvestment since the sale of Air India, according to the reports. The sale of a controlling stake in a public-sector lender had been discussed for years, and a Free Press Journal headline refers to a nine-year journey from restrictions imposed by the Reserve Bank of India to the takeover, though IndiaX24 has not read that article in full.
The process was competitive but narrow. Five parties initially submitted expressions of interest, four of them qualified under the eligibility criteria, and two submitted techno-financial bids, according to the reports. The reports reviewed that mention a winner name only Fairfax’s entity, and they do not name the second bidder.
The conditions that remain are not described. The reports reviewed do not say what approvals are still needed from the Reserve Bank of India or other regulators, whether an open offer to minority shareholders will follow, or when the transaction is expected to close. A change of control of a bank normally needs regulatory clearance, which is general background and not a finding of these reports, so IndiaX24 does not give a completion date.
The reports also do not give the market reaction. IndiaX24 did not find a closing price for IDBI Bank shares in the sources reviewed, so it cannot say how the stock traded in relation to the Rs 81 offer price.
For the government, the sale reduces its holding in a lender that it took over through LIC. For LIC, it turns a strategic holding into cash, according to the general logic of such a sale, but the reports reviewed do not give LIC’s own statement or the accounting effect, so IndiaX24 does not describe them.
Fairfax Financial is a Toronto-based insurance and investment holding group, which is general background, and the reports reviewed do not describe its plans for the bank. IndiaX24 will report on the regulatory approvals and the closing of the transaction.
Image: An IDBI Bank branch in Paravur, Kerala (file photo). Photo by Arunvrparavur, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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