This bank is going to be sold!
Big news is coming out from the Indian banking world, a big change is going to happen in RBL Bank, a well-known private sector bank of the country. The bank may soon become part of a foreign group. RBL Bank itself informed on Saturday, October 17 that Emirates NBD, one of the largest and most prestigious banking groups in the Middle East, has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase a whopping 60 percent stake in the bank. This deal is a major event not only for the future of RBL Bank, but for the entire Indian banking sector. It is believed that this could be one of the largest ever foreign investments (FDI) in the banking sector of the country.
Under this agreement between Emirates NBD and RBL Bank, this Dubai-based banking group will buy shares of RBL Bank at a price of Rs 280 per share. For this deal, Emirates NBD will infuse a total capital of Rs 26,853 crore into the bank. This investment will be made through 'Preferential Issue'. This means that RBL The bank will issue new shares specifically to Emirates NBD. As soon as this process is completed and Emirates NBD gets 60% stake, it will get complete control over the bank. With this, Emirates NBD will become the new 'promoter' of RBL Bank. This is a huge step, which will hand over the entire command and ownership of the bank to a new and strong international group.
Whenever such a big change happens in a bank, the first question that comes in the minds of customers and investors is what effect it will have on them. The management of RBL Bank says that this deal is expected to provide tremendous strength to the bank.
The biggest benefit will be to the 'capital base' of the bank. This huge amount of Rs 26,853 crore will come directly into the bank's coffers. When the capital base of a bank is strong, its lending capacity (power to distribute loans) increases manifold. The bank believes that this investment will give them great strength to fulfill their long-term growth plans and they will be able to do business more aggressively in the market.
As far as shareholders are concerned, RBL Bank shares have performed well this year. Since the beginning of this year, there has been a tremendous rise of about 90 percent in the bank's shares. However, before this news, on Friday October 17, RBL Bank shares had closed at Rs 299.70 on NSE, down 2.30 per cent. Now it will be interesting to see how investors react to this deal.
As big as this deal sounds, the path to implementing it is not that easy. RBL Bank has signed this agreement, but many big and important approvals are still to be taken to complete it. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will play the most important role in this entire process. Since this is a banking sector issue and involves foreign investment, the deal cannot move forward even a single step without the green signal from RBI.
Apart from this, RBL Bank will also have to get the approval of this deal from its existing shareholders. In this connection, the bank has called an 'Extraordinary General Meeting' (EGM) of its shareholders on 12 November 2025. In this meeting, this entire proposal will be placed before the shareholders for approval. The bank expects that all regulatory and shareholder approvals will be received in time. If everything goes as per plan, this entire scheme will become effective next year from April 1, 2026.
