The government has proposed selling up to a 6% stake in state-owned Bank of Maharashtra, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) announced on Monday. The move is seen as part of efforts to align with minimum public shareholding norms.

According to the official statement, the centre plans to offload a 5% equity stake, with an additional 1% available as a green-shoe option. As of the September quarter, the government held 79.6% in the public sector lender.

The offer opens on December 2 for non-retail investors, while retail investors can place their bids on December 3.

“Offer for Sale in Bank of Maharashtra (BOM) opens tomorrow for Non-Retail investors. Retail investors can bid on Wednesday. Government offers to disinvest 5% equity in the bank with an additional 1% as a green shoe option,” DIPAM said in a X post.

Based on current market prices, the 5% stake sale alone could fetch the government around ₹1,800 crore. On Monday, Bank of Maharashtra shares ended at ₹57.66 on the BSE, down 1.54%, with a market capitalisation of ₹44,349.51 crore.

In the last one year, the lender has delivered a muted return of around 1% to its shareholders, while the PSU bank stock has risen by 0.3%. The counter has lost nearly 4% in a month, while it has risen nearly 10% year-to-date (YTD).

In October 2024, Bank of Maharashtra raised ₹3,500 crore via qualified institutional placement (QIP). The bank issued 61.01 crore equity shares at a price of ₹57.36 per share, which was at a 4.99% discount to the floor price of ₹60.37.  Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, and Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance Company were among major investors that participated in the QIP.

For the second quarter ended September 30, 2025, Bank of Maharashtra reported a 23% year-on-year (YoY) rise in net profit to ₹1,633 crore, supported by healthy growth in net interest income (NII). During the quarter under review, NII grew 15.71% YoY to ₹3,248 crore, compared to ₹2,807 crore in the same quarter a year ago (Q2FY25). The net interest margin (NIM) slipped to 3.85% in Q2FY26 from 3.98% in Q2FY25.

On the asset quality front, gross non-performing assets (NPA) improved to 1.72% in Q2FY26, and net NPA also dropped to 0.18% during the reporting quarter. Provisions for NPAs declined to ₹583 crore in Q2FY26 from ₹598 crore in Q2FY25.