The United Forum of IDBI Officers has, in an exhaustive appeal to the Chairperson and members of the Standing Committee on Finance, requested it to recommend to the Centre that it place before Parliament a comprehensive White Paper on issues involving IDBI Bank and proposed sale of stake to foreign investors.Devidas Tuljapurkar, Convenor; Vithal Koteswara Ra AV and Ratnakar Wankhade, Joint Convenors of the Forum, requested that the White Paper should throw light on the bank’s legislative history; the 2003 parliamentary process and Centre’s assurances; financial support from the Centre and the LIC; bank’s present profitability; future dividend potential; and valuation methodology, among other things.Strategic disinvestmentThe Centre informed the Lok Sabha on December 1, 2025 that 60.72 per cent of bank’s equity is being offered for strategic disinvestment with transfer of management control, comprising 30.48 per cent from the Government of India and 30.24 per cent from LIC, leaving the Government with 15 per cent and LIC with 19 per cent after the proposed sale. The same Parliamentary answer stated that the bidder-selection process had advanced through security clearance and RBI’s fit-and-proper assessment. “The issue therefore can no longer be regarded as an abstract policy proposal. It concerns an imminent and potentially irreversible transfer of control over a strategically important financial institution. We accordingly request the Committee to take up the matter for urgent suo motu examination,” the Forum said.Complete picture neededThe White Paper should also deliberate on property portfolio; legacy land-title issues; reservation impact; foreign-control implications; lock-in and exit provisions; asset-monetisation safeguards; financial inclusion obligations; and specific public-interest justification for privatisation. Parliament should have complete picture before a national institution built over six decades passes irreversibly out of public control, the Forum said.It recalled the parent IDBI was created through public policy for national development and its transformation was scrutinised by Parliament. Its majority government ownership was the subject of Parliamentary concern and assurance. Public institutions had supported its rehabilitation and employees contributed to its recovery, helping the bank turn the corner and return to profitability. Valuable franchiseIDBI possesses a valuable banking franchise and substantial assets accumulated over decades. Yet its controlling ownership is now proposed to be transferred, potentially to foreign capital. This raises questions not simply of disinvestment but of parliamentary accountability; constitutional governance; valuation of public wealth; social justice; ownership stability; financial sovereignty; and last but not least, the credibility of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Hold final transfer“There is no more appropriate institution than the Standing Committee on Finance of Parliament to examine these questions before the process becomes irreversible. We therefore most urge the Committee to intervene institutionally, undertake a comprehensive examination and recommend that the Government withhold final transfer of management control pending Parliamentary scrutiny,” the Forum said in its representation. The issue before Parliament, it said, is ultimately simple: If IDBI Bank has been rehabilitated with public support and has returned to profitability, what compelling public interest now requires its transfer out of public control? Until that question is answered transparently and convincingly, prudence, Parliamentary accountability and national interest require that the privatisation process should not be concluded. Published on August 27, 2026