India is set to halt IDBI Bank sale as both bids unviable

India is set to scrap the bids it received for a majority stake in IDBI Bank Ltd. as the amounts were below the minimum price sought, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Technically this development brings a halt to the sale process, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details aren’t public. They declined to quantify the bids or the government’s so-called reserve price.

Calls and an email to India’s Finance Ministry weren’t immediately answered.

While the people didn’t identify the bidders, Bloomberg News had previously reported that Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. was the frontrunner for what would have been the biggest foreign investment in India’s banking sector, and that Emirates NBD had also bid.

The 61% stake that the government and a state-run insurer planned to sell in the private lender is worth about $6.5 billion at the current market price.

The Narendra Modi-led government has been looking to sell the Mumbai-based lender for several years, part of its efforts to pare state ownership in the banking sector. IDBI Bank returned to profitability in recent years after capital support and aggressive recoveries helped it cut non-performing assets.