Bank of Maharashtra, BOI, IOB in queue --Govt plans to dress up PSBs before sale;

The government plans to dress up state run lenders’ balance sheets through capital support and sale of non-core assets among other measures before putting them on the block. The transformation plan also includes transfer of impaired loans to the proposed bad bank and reducing employee count by offering attractive voluntary retirement schemes, officials aware of the developments said.

Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of India, and IOB are the frontrunners for being privatised. Central Bank of India may be taken up based on its financial recovery. Punjab & Sind Bank and UCO Bank, the other two lenders that were not merged as a part of the PSB consolidation, are not being considered for privatisation yet, officials said.