Central Bank Of India Stake Sale: The Government of India has initiated the process to divest its stake in Central Bank of India via the offer for sale (OFS) route, notified the Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), Ministry of Finance. ''Offer for Sale of equity in Central Bank of India opens tomorrow for Non-Retail investors. Retail investors can bid on Monday. Government offers to disinvest 4% equity in the Central Bank of India with an additional 4% as green shoe option,'' said Arunish Chawla, Secretary, DIPAM in a post on 'X' (formerly Twitter) late Thursday night.
The floor price for the OFS has been set at Rs 31 per equity share, which is at a discount of 8.6% to Thursday's closing price of Rs 33.94 apiece on the NSE. Under the base offer, the government proposes to sell 36,20,56,051 equity shares of face value Rs 10 each, representing 4% of the total issued and paid-up equity share capital worth Rs 1,122.4 crore at the floor price. The government will also exercise a greenshoe option to sell an additional 36,20,56,051 equity shares of the bank, representing another 4% stake in the public sector lender, in the event of an oversubscription.
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This means the promoter plans to offload a total of 72.41 crore shares or upto 8% stake in the public sector lender. If the green shoe option is exercised, the government is likely to raise around Rs 2,455 crore via the stake sale. The move is aimed at helping the bank move closer to complying with the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) norms, which require all listed public companies to maintain a public float of at least 25%. Currently, government's or promoter holding in the bank stands at a high of 89.27% or worth 8,08,03,91,687 shares.
In order to be compliant with SEBI's MPS, the government will have to sell another 14.27% stake in Central Bank of India. According to SEBI, all listed companies must maintain public shareholding of 25%. The government currently holds 89.27% stake. If the government exercises the greenshoe option, its total stake in the state-owned bank will come down to 81.27%.
In the 2025-26 fiscal, the government had raised Rs 2,624 crore through OFS of the Bank of Maharashtra and Rs 1,419 crore from Indian Overseas Bank.
The OFS is scheduled for May 22 and May 25, 2026. Non-retail investors can subscribe to the OFS on Friday, May 22 between 9:15 am and 3:30 pm. Non-retail investors will also have the option to carry forward their unallotted bids to T+1 day. However, retail investors and employees will be able to subscribe to the issue on Monday, May 25 during the same trading hours.
"The Offer shall take place over two trading days on a separate window of the Stock Exchanges on May 22, 2026 ("T" day) and May 25, 2026 (T+1 day), commencing from 9:15 a.m. and shall close on the same date at 3:30 p.m. (Indian Standard Time) on both days, as per details given below," said Central Bank of India in its statement.
"Only non-retail Investors shall be allowed to place their bids on T day, i.e., May 22, 2026. While placing their bids, non-retail investors may indicate their willingness to carry forward their un-allotted bids to T+1 day for allocation to them in the unsubscribed portion of Retail Category (defined below)," it added.
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