Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Govt to repeal IDBI Act by Dec, restructure IFCI by March

The government said, on Tuesday, Industrial Development Bank of India would be first corporatised through the repeal of IDBI Act in the winter session of Parliament as part of its restructuring while a reform package for the ailing IFCI would be worked out by March 2003.

"The idea is, once IDBI Act is repealed and it becomes a corporate entity, we will then look at the future," joint secretary in the ministry of finance, Shekhar Agarwal, told reporters after a meeting of lenders and stakeholders in New Delhi.

Agarwal also indicated that plans of merging IDBI with a public sector unit bank or converting the financial institution into a universal bank would be taken up only after the corporatisation.

"We are trying to repeal the IDBI Act by the winter session," he said, adding there was no proposal to bring in an ordinance as of now.

He also ruled out a bailout plan for IDBI saying the financial health of the FI was not bad enough to warrant it.

In the first ever meeting of stakeholders and lenders, top officials of the ministry of finance, Reserve Bank of India, Life Insurance Corporation, State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and General Insurance Corporation also discussed the restructuring plan of IFCI.

Expressing the government's concern over IFCI, Agarwal said: "We wanted to talk to the lenders and stakeholders and get their perception. We will take everybody's views and work for a proposal for IFCI."

ALSO READ:
More Money Headlines