The legislation for privatisation of select-public sector banks, which is considered to be in the offing for the past few months, could be introduced in the upcoming Monsoon Session of the Parliament.
The banks that may get privatised include Indian Overseas Bank, Central Bank of India and UCO Bank, in which the government has 96.38 percent, 93.08 percent and 95.39 percent stakes, respectively.
The law ministry is studying the proposed banking law amendments with respect to privatisation and the government may lower the minimum stake in PSBs from 51 percent at present to 26 percent. The government is likely to retain a minimum presence in banking as a strategic sector and exit only those public sector banks that are identified for privatisation.
In the Monsoon session last year, the Parliament had passed a bill to allow privatisation of state-run general insurance companies. The General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021, removed the requirement of the central government to hold at least 51 percent of the equity capital in a specified insurer.
