The Indian government has received multiple bids for a majority stake in IDBI Bank, an official said in a tweet on Saturday, after the deadline for expressions of interest closed earlier in the day.
The government, which owns 45.48 per cent of IDBI Bank, is looking to divest a 30.48 per cent stake in the lender, alongside state-owned Life Insurance Corp of India (LIC), which will sell a 30.24 per cent stake from its holding of 49.24 per cent in the bank.
"The transaction will now move to the second stage," Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary of India's Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, said in a tweet.
Also Read | India plans tax waivers for IDBI Bank buyer
Ahead of Saturday's deadline, India's market regulator this week allowed the government to reclassify its shareholding in IDBI Bank as "public" post sale, making it simpler for the new buyer to meet the minimum public shareholding norm.
India's finance ministry on Monday also extended an exemption to the new buyer of IDBI Bank that allows it to maintain a 25 per cent minimum public shareholding in the lender.
The time limit to increase the public shareholding in the lender would be specified in due course, the government said.
A successful sale of IDBI Bank to a private buyer through a competitive bidding process would be the first such deal in the Indian banking sector, setting the stage for more such sales in the coming years.