LIC holds the key in Govt’s IDBI Bank stake sale

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Will the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) sell a portion of its shares in IDBI Bank, just so that the Government can complete strategic disinvestment of its stake in the Bank in FY22?

Left to its own devices, the Corporation may not want to do it.

Reason: the current market price of IDBI Bank is much lower than the price LIC paid in FY2019 to up its stake in the Bank from 10.82 per cent to 51 per cent.

Also read: LIC to sell stake in IDBI Bank to ease process of disinvestment

LIC hiked its stake in IDBI Bank in FY2019 in three tranches — at ₹61.73 per share via preferential allotment in October 2018 and ₹60.73 per share via preferential allotment in December 2018 as well as in January 2019. IDBI Bank’s shares closed at ₹36.30 apiece on BSE last Friday.

In the last 14 months or so, IDBI Bank’s market price has been lower than the price LIC paid to increase its stake in the Bank.

The state-owned life insurance behemoth invested a whopping ₹21,624 crore (of policy holders’ money) for hiking its shareholding in the Bank. So, it will definitely want a good return on this investment.

Being a public financial institution, the Corporation’s investments are under the scrutiny of lawmakers. If a sale happens below the acquisition price, it will be frowned upon by the stakeholders.

As at December-end 2020, LIC and the Government held 49.24 per cent and 45.48 per cent stake, respectively, in IDBI Bank.

Controlling stake

The Government is planning to completely divest its stake in IDBI Bank to a strategic investor. But the investor may want to hold more than 51 per cent stake (higher than LIC’s stake) in the Bank. So, the only way this can happen is if the Corporation sells a portion of its stake to the investor.

Among the synergies IDBI Bank has achieved with LIC include premium collection (which gives the Bank float money), sale of insurance products (fetches fee income), appointment of LICHFL-Financial Service Ltd (LICHFL-FSL) as corporate direct selling agent for sourcing of MSME and agriculture loans and select structured retail assets (auto, personal & education Loan).

Given that IDBI Bank is reaping the benefit of its synergy with LIC, the new investor may want to continue this mutual synergy which has created a single window for customers to avail banking and insurance services.

Wiggle room

LIC may get wiggle room to pare its stake in IDBI Bank once the Bank complies with the profitability criteria (Return on Assets/RoA) to come out of Prompt Corrective Action (PCA). The Reserve Bank of India invoked PCA against IDBI Bank in 2017 in view of high non-performing assets and negative return on assets.

Under PCA, a bank’s branch expansion is restricted and lending is narrowed to relatively less risky segments to nurse it back to health.

Also read: IDBI Bank back in black, posts ₹378-cr net profit in Q3

The Corporation may be banking on a re-rating of the Bank’s stock, once the PCA tag is withdrawn, to support the Government’s strategic disinvestment in IDBI Bank.

In a way, LIC is treading on eggshells vis-a-vis its investment in IDBI Bank.

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‘Proposed LIC Act tweaks aimed at getting insurance behemoth ready for listing’

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Budget 2021 not only had loads of goodies on the privatisation front, it also has taken special efforts to expedite the process of legislative amendments to enable the government shed stakes in both Life Insurance Corporation and IDBI Bank.

A day after the Budget was presented in Parliament, Debashish Panda, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, shared the various aspects of changes related to financial services sector introduced through the Finance Bill 2021. Excerpts:

Why use the Finance Bill to bring amendments in LIC Act?

The last Budget had announcements about LIC IPO and IDBI. The Finance Minister made announcements this time too. We had to bring necessary legislative changes. For LIC, we have brought 26-27 consequent amendments through the Finance Bill. The LIC Act 1956 did not have provisions for listing or how shares will be distributed.

In both LIC and IDBI, the Consolidated fund of India will receive the funds. So it becomes part of the money bill and to expedite the process, the changes has been put as part of Finance Bill – which is a money Bill.

Will the intent be to corporatise LIC under Companies Act or will it remain a corporation even after listing?

No, the Life Insurance Corporation of India Act will remain. The character of LIC will remain. We are only enabling compliance with listing regulations and allowing shares to be issued. We are specifying an authorised capital (₹25,000 crore from the current level of ₹ 100 crore) and detailing the Board structures etc in the amendments

How much will the government look to dilute in LIC? Will it be 5 per cent or 10 per cent?

It is for the DIPAM (disinvestment department) to take a call on this. We are looking at other aspects like getting the legislative changes done, get embedded value calculated, appointing actuarial consultants for this etc. Based on the embedded value, the enterprise value will be calculated and then listing will happen. I cannot say anything about the timing.

What was the purpose of going in for a new Development Financial Institution when you could have used an existing entity?

The proposed government-owned DFI — National Bank for Financing and Infrastructure Development — will play a catalytic role in development of the corporate bond market. It will also be a market maker and do technology-based monitoring of projects – which is missing in today’s infrastructure financing. The first pillar of this new DFI is the developmental role while financing role will be its second pillar. Going forward, the government may even look to bring down its holding, in this DFI, to 26 per cent. The new DFI Bill will also open the doors for private owned DFIs to enter this space. IIFCL can also be subsumed for a quick start as it already had domain expertise and trained manpower in this field. This new DFI will start a post Covid-19 new investment cycle in project financing. It will anchor the new ₹111-lakh crore National Infrastructure Pipeline of projects for the next five years.

Budget has proposed a new structure of ARC and AMC to deal with bad loans of public sector banks (PSBs). Will government put money in these entities towards capital?

The government will not and has no plans to put any equity in the new mechanism. It is for the banks to come together and set them up. The bad assets will get transferred from the banks to the ARC entity at net book value (book value-provision made) and as consideration for this 15 per cent cash and 85 per cent securities receipts will be issued.

Budget has proposed privatisation of two PSBs. Will the exiting prompt corrective action banks be eligible as candidates for privatisation?

All of them are eligible. It could be anyone from one to twelve PSBs. The three level of committees as mentioned in the recently approved policy – NITI Aayog, core group of secretaries and alternate mechanism. Also the banks that are now under prompt corrective action have been doing well in recent months and hopefully could come out soon.

Will government ask LIC to join the centre in shedding stake in IDBI Bank?

That will be for the LIC Board to take. It is not for us to determine how much and when they should sell.

So what is the purpose of bringing amendments to the IDBI repeal Act?

The main purpose is to take care of the licensing issue and how it should be dealt with if the control of the bank changes hands.

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Fourth consecutive quarter of net profit brings IDBI closer to PCA exit, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Life Insurance Corp of India (LIC) controlled IDBI Bank expects to come out of Reserve Bank of India‘s (RBI) stringent prompt corrective action (PCA) directions at the end of this fiscal year after meeting the central bank’s last remaining parameter, CEO Rakesh Sharma said.

RBI’s PCA framework imposed on banks wih high NPAs and modest capital position, restricts banks from certain lending activities and curbs expenses to conserve funds.

IDBI has been under PCA since May 2017. The bank reported its fourth consecutive quarter of net profit in December 2020 after 13 straight quarters of losses. Sharma expressed confidence that the bank will move out of RBI’s restrictive directions after it records a positve return on assets in the end of the current fiscal.

“We are above all indicators put forth by RBI and next quarter we expect to record a positive return on assets for the fiscal year which will help us exit PCA very soon. Against a requirement of 8% core equity capital we are currently at 12.2% and against a requirement of 6% net NPA we are at 2.74% including loans which are yet to be classified as NPAs. The RoA is reported at the end of the fiscal and we are confident that we will move out of PCA after we record a positive number in March,” Sharma said.

Results released today showed that the bank reported its fourth consecutive quarter of net profit riding on higher net interest income (NII) mainly as cost of funds fell. The bank reported a net profit of Rs 378 crore in the quarter ended December 2020 from a loss of Rs 5,763 crore a year earlier.

NII or the difference between income earned on loans and that paid on deposits increased 18% to Rs 1810 crore from Rs1,532 crore a year earlier. Net interest margin (NIM) or the difference between the yield earned on loans and that paid on deposits improved by 60 basis points to 2.87% from 2.27% a year ago. One basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

With 23.52% gross NPAs, the bank has among the highest stressed loans in the industry though down from 28.72% a year ago. However with a provision coverage of 97.08% it has covered for most of its stress.

“There was some apprehension that the loans under moratorium will be high post Covid with about 5 to 6% restructured but we have been able to keep it at 2.5% of our book. Similarly, loans that are not classified as NPAs due to the Supreme Court (SC) order are less than 2% of standard advances,” Sharma said.

If not for the SC order the bank’s gross NPAs would have been 24.33% of its loans.

The bank’s income rose despite a 7% year on year fall in loan book to Rs 1.59 lakh crore from Rs 1.72 lakh crore a year ago mainly because cost of funds fell 99 basis points to 4.39% from 5.38% last year.

IDBI has made a total of Rs 436 crore of Covid 19 related provisions and separately made Rs 340 crore for restructure loans under the RBI framework. Another Rs 369 crore has been made for accounts not classified as NPAs due to the SC stay including Rs 84 crore for reversal of interest.

“We have already restructured Rs 704 crore of loans and another Rs 2256 crore is in the pipeline. So the total restructured loans are at Rs 2960 crore or 2.42% of standard assets much lower than the 5% to 6% which was expected,” Sharma said.

Going forward the bank expects a recovery in retail loans led by mortgages. Sharma said he expects retail loans to grow at 10% to 12% in the next fiscal year up from the 4% to 5% growth likely this year.



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IDBI Bank launches Video KYC facility for savings account customers, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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LIC backed lender IDBI Bank launched a Video KYC Account Opening (VAO) facility for its savings account owners, which allowed a contactless and paperless mode of onboarding customers. Through the facility, IDBI Bank’s prospective customers could open a savings account remotely, without having to visit a branch nor fill forms, as the VAO allowed account openings through homes and offices.

IDBI Bank’s Deputy Managing Director, Suresh Khatanhar, during the launch of the facility also inaugurated a centralized Video-KYC hub, in Mumbai. Speaking at the launch, Khatanhar said “VAO – Video KYC Account Opening is yet another step in creating more digital journeys benefiting the customers. This comes close on the heels of the “I Quick” mobile app based account opening and “WhatsApp Banking” facilities the Bank had launched recently.”

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous public and private lenders have launched remote KYC facilities which allow customers to open accounts without having to visit the physical branches of lenders. These include Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, IDFC First Bank, ICICI Bank, and YES Bank.



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IDBI Bank sells 23 per cent stake in life insurance jt venture to Belgian partner for ₹507 cr

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LIC-controlled IDBI Bank on Thursday said it has sold 23 per cent stake in life insurance venture to foreign partner Ageas for ₹507 crore.

With this transaction, the stake of the Belgian partner in IDBI Federal Life Insurance Co Ltd (IFLI) has risen to 49 per cent, the upper foreign direct investment limit prescribed by the law.

IDBI Bank completed sale transaction of its 23 per cent stake to Ageas Insurance International on December 31, 2020 pursuant to receipt of the requisite regulatory approvals, the bank said in a regulatory filing.

“Pursuant to sale of 23 per cent holding representing 18,40,00,000 shares to Ageas for a consideration of .₹507.10 crore, IDBI Bank”s shareholding in IFLI now stands at 25 per cent from the earlier 48 per cent,” it said.

Following this transaction, the joint venture has been rebranded as Ageas Federal Life Insurance Company Ltd, it added.

Besides, the bank intends to sell 4 per cent stake to another partner Federal Bank.

The board at its meeting held on June 26, 2020, had approved selling IDBI Bank”s stake in IFLI to the extent of 23 per cent to Ageas and 4 per cent to Federal Bank at a combined value of about Rs 595 crore, subject to all regulatory approvals.

The ₹595 crore raised through this transaction values the life insurer at around Rs 2,200 crore which is just a slight premium to the company”s book value.

Post Life Insurance Corporation India (LIC) acquiring 51 per cent stake in IDBI Bank, the stake sale had become imperative as insurance laws do not allow an insurer to own a significant stake in a rival insurer.

An insurer is not allowed to hold more than 10 per cent stake in a rival insurer. Since LIC owns 51 per cent stake in IDBI Bank and the later owns 48 per cent stake in IFLI, the bank had to divest its stake in its insurance joint venture.

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