New Delhi, Oct. 30 -- The government has defended the valuation process for the Rs.52,878 crore sale of a 60.72% stake in IDBI Bank, clarifying that the reserve price was neither reduced nor increased during the second round of bidding. The revised process, however, helped secure a higher discovered bid price of Rs.3,917 crore, according to a Finance Ministry release.

In its clarification, the government said the first round of bidding became "functus officio" after the initial bids were not approved. It added that the procedure for the second or best-offer round was determined by the Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment (CGD), which was empowered by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) to address procedural issues and ...