Mainstream WeeklyDOCUMENT
All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC)
Press Release
Date:22.10.2026
All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) vehemently and vociferously opposes the Union Cabinet’s approval of the sale of assets worth Rs52,748 Crores of the Public owned IDBI Bank to Canada’s Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd, It is highly condemnable that the BJP government continues its economic folly of monetizing public assets to the profit driven corporate interests, without the least of concern to public interests. AITUC, while strongly condemning this sale, urges upon the Union Government to halt this sale and stop the process forthwith.
Neither public consultation nor parliamentary scrutiny was undertaken before the cabinet decision. This is undemocratic and a matter of serious public concern. The policy, so unilaterally adopted by the union government raises fundamental questions about public ownership, the obligation of the democratically elected government to taxpayers’ money and the future of India’s banking system. The lopsided decision reflects the government’s obsequiousness to its domestic and international corporate masters.
The financial history of IDBI Bank exposes the central contradiction of interest in the disinvestment policy of the government. When the bank faced a severe crisis of mounting non-performing assets (NPAs) and financial losses, public resources and the support of the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) played a crucial role in its turnaround. It was the public sector that had shouldered the entire burden of recovery. The bank bounced bank strong after recovery and also posted a record net profit of Rs 9513 crore in the Financial Year 2025-26, demonstrating its capacity to emerge and sustain profitability. In these circumstances the sale of more than 60% of shares to foreign institution and thereby transferring control, runs counter to long term interests of the nation.
Huge amount of NPAs were written off to clean up the balance sheet. The finance minister always maintains that writing off bad loans does not extinguish the borrower’s liability. Then, the government’s policy raises serious questions about the treatment of bad loans, write offs, recovery, provisioning etc., Equally serious questions about the profit, dividend, asset quality and valuation are raised. The government must disclose the relevant records of write-offs, recoveries, provisioning, capital infusions and asset valuation. People have a right to know the justification, if at all, for the decision to sell when the future earning potential of the bank is strong and robust.
AITUC has time and again reiterated and so does now that the public sector undertakings and banks are public assets, instruments of economic development and social responsibility. They are not to be monetized for public spending. This is not fiscal prudence. Banking is not a mere commercial business. IDBI bank, established as a development financial institution has made a commendable contribution in the industrial growth of the nation.
Selling a profit making bank to attract foreign direct investment is not a far sighted economic strategy. FDI should be encouraged in manufacturing to create new productive capacity, generate employment, facilitate technological development and strengthen the domestic economy. Mere transfer of ownership of national asset to a foreign entity is not a substitute for productive investment. The sale is a betrayal of the public interest.
The transfer of management control to private foreign capital gives rise to serious concerns about employment security, labour rights, branch operations, financial inclusion and access to affordable credit for small businesses, agriculture and ordinary customers. In the event of the sale going through, there should be clear and enforceable guarantees to protect wages and working conditions of all employees, regular, contract and outsourced, their trade union rights, Industrial Relations and collective bargaining mechanism, etc., Pensioners should get their interests guaranteed too. Government should also guarantee protection to customers, their deposits and the bank’s obligations to the wider public.
The government must halt the sale and transfer of management control. The entire transaction should be placed before Parliament and the public for a transparent assessment of its economic, social and financial consequences. At a time when the economy of the country is in a flux and unemployment is sharply increasing, the union government should change its policy of disinvestment and privatization. Short-term gains from the monetisation of IDBI is not a substitute to long-term sustained stream of income and dividends essential for the future growth and development.
Public money must serve the public. Recovery of IDBI was done with the state owned LIC. There is never a justification of its sale. Banking must serve the people and the national economy, not merely the interests of private capital. AITUC reiterates that the government should halt the process and change its policy of disinvestment.
Amarjeet Kaur, General Secretary AITUC
Statement from AITUC Secretariat