The Central government is looking to privatise more than half of its state-owned banks to reduce the number of government-owned lenders to just five as part of an overhaul of the banking industry. At present, India has 12 state-owned banks.
The first part of the plan will be to sell majority stakes in Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, UCO Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and Punjab & Sind Bank, leading to an effective privatisation of these state-owned lenders.
Such a plan will be laid out in a new privatisation proposal the government is currently formulating. This will be put before the Cabinet for approval.
The government is working on a privatisation plan to help raise money by selling assets in non-core companies and sectors.