Public banks not assets to be sold off, they are tools to build nation: Rahul amid IDBI bank sale row
‘I took that question to the Lok Sabha. I asked why a profitable public bank was being sold and how its employees and depositors would be protected. The government gave no reason. Now it has decided to sell IDBI Bank to Fairfax, a Canadian company,’ says Rahul Gandhi
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Updated - October 30, 2026 01:24 pm IST - New Delhi
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi.
File | Photo Credit: ANI
Amid the IDBI Bank disinvestment row, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has expressed solidarity with the bank employees and questioned the government's decision to sell off the profitable public bank to a Canadian firm.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha asserted that public banks are not assets to be sold off, they are tools to build the nation.
In a letter addressed to members of the IDBI Bank family, Mr.
Gandhi said that in March last year, a group of IDBI Bank employees came to meet him in Parliament House and asked him a simple question as to why the government is selling a bank that they had made profitable.
"I took that question to the Lok Sabha.
I asked why a profitable public bank was being sold and how its employees and depositors would be protected.
The government gave no reason.
Now it has decided to sell IDBI Bank to Fairfax, a Canadian company," Mr.
Gandhi said.
Noting that IDBI began as a pioneering development bank, he said the journey to a commercial bank has been difficult, but the employees have faced the challenges.
"Seven years ago, IDBI was losing money.
Last year, it earned a profit of over nine thousand crore rupees.
That turnaround is your work," he said in his open letter to bank employees.
An institution built with public money belongs to the public, Mr.
Gandhi asserted.
Today, the government and LIC own 95% of this bank.
After the sale, they will own 34%, he pointed out in the letter dated October 29.
In 2003, the government promised Parliament that it would always hold at least 50% of IDBI, he said.
"That promise may not be written into law, but a promise made to Parliament is a promise made to the people of India," Mr.
Gandhi asserted.
When IDBI is privately owned, reservation for SC, ST and OBC candidates will go with it, he said.
"Your service conditions, already weakened, will lose their last protection.
The Congress has always believed in a strong public sector working alongside the private sector.
Public banks are not assets to be sold off; they are tools to build the nation," Mr.
Gandhi stressed.
"You asked me to stand with you.
Full detailed coverage is shown on the council website above. Source attribution: The Hindu – Business.
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