Mumbai, 4th March, 2022 (GPN)- Associations representing the employees and officers working in IDBI Bank register strong protest against the proposed sale of IDBI Bank to Private Players by the Central Government and LIC of India who are promoters of IDBI Bank with 45.48 percent and 49 percent shareholding in IDBI Bank respectively.

Employees’ unions have started agitation against the proposed Stake sale of the bank to private Corporates. The nationwide protest of IDBI Bank’s Stake Sale through Road Show, which started on February 25, 2022, has started on a nationwide basis from March 4, 2022.

This move by the Central Government in IDBI Bank is in stark contrast to the assurance given by the then Hon’ble Finance Minister in both the Houses of Parliament in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in December 2003,. The central government had promised that IDBI would not hold less than 51 per cent stake in the bank. IDBI Bank Industrial Development Bank of India was a development financial institution catering to the needs of various industries in the country from 1964 to 2004. And IDBI Bank has always been a major contributor to the country’s industrial growth and infrastructure.

IDBI Bank has been transformed into IDBI Bank since 2004. It is a commercial bank that caters to the personal and financial needs of the common man. IDBI Bank’s network is now spread across the country and has 1,886 branches and 3,393 ATMs in 1,407 centers across the country. As a promoter with 48% shareholding, the general public has full faith in IDBI Bank. As on December 31, 2021, the deposits with IDBI Bank stood at Rs 2,22,578 crore. In such a scenario, if IDBI Bank is sold to private companies, there will be a big risk to the hard earned money of ordinary people.

More recently, the whole country has witnessed the woes and stories of the customers of the former Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank [PMC Bank], Lakshmi Vilas Bank and Yes Bank, which are being run entirely by private institutions. That is why the trade unions are strongly opposed to the proposed sale of IDBI and that is why this path of agitation has been adopted. Opposing the privatization of IDBI Bank, the unions have the following demands from the central government which the government should meet.

Re categorization of IDBI Bank as a Public Sector Bank. GOI Shareholding [45. 48 per cent] and LIC [49 per cent. 24 per cent] Government of India’s shareholding in IDBI Bank as promoter should not reduce below than 51 per cent ‘. About 50% of the direct and indirect employees of IDBI Bank are women. More than 100 of the direct employees of IDBI Bank are either physically handicapped or blind.

All the employees of IDBI Bank had competed at the all-India level to get a job in the Government of India-owned IDBI Bank. Many executives quit their previous jobs in public sector banks and the central government to join IDBI Bank. The sale of IDBI Bank to private companies proposed by the Government of India and LIC of India would jeopardize the future of about 17,000 families supported by direct employment in IDBI Bank and about 20,000 families supported by IDBI. Therefore, the employees’ unions are protesting against the proposed move of IDBI Bank to sell to private companies.Ends