IDBI Bank seems to be doggedly pursuing the sale of a plot of land, where the iconic Minerva Theatre (of “Sholay” fame) once stood, in South Mumbai. The Bank has launched a second attempt to sell the land in the current calendar year.

In its latest bid to sell the land, the bank has lowered the reserve price for the freehold plot (15,975 square feet) on Dr Dadasaheb Bhadkamkar Marg (popularly known as Lamington Road) to ₹52 crore from ₹57.87 crore in January 2021.

The Bank said the rectangular plot owned by it is ideal for residential/ boutique commercial use. The blockbuster movie “Sholay” ran for five years on the trot from 1975 at Minerva Theatre.

The plot has been on the block for the last many years, but the Bank did not receive bids that passed muster.

IDBI Bank floated a request for a proposal (RFP) to sell this commercial property on January 4, 2021, with date of submitting offers/bids being January 25, 2021. It extended the last date for submission of offers/bids to February 22, 2021.

The Bank has once again floated an RFP (March 5, 2021) for the aforesaid property. The last date for submission of offers/bids is March 16, 2021. It has specified that bids cannot be submitted by a consortium of bidders.

Banks seem to be facing an uphill task in selling commercial properties in Mumbai, going by the experience of IDBI Bank (in respect of Minerva Theatre) and a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India (in respect of the sale of Kingfisher House to partly recover exposure to the defunct Kingfisher Airlines).

The aforementioned development comes in the backdrop of the slowdown in domestic economic activity, which started in 2018-19, and the downturn in the commercial real estate market in the last three-four years.

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