LIC IPO: Govt to take call in best interest of investors, says DIPAM Secy

The government will take a call on the IPO of the country's largest insurer LIC in the "best interest of the investors", a senior official said on Friday as it is closely watching the market amid volatility caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.

DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said that while the government's desire is to come out with the Initial Public Offer (IPO) of the state-owned life insurer in the current fiscal, it is a "dynamic situation".

Through the IPO of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), the government aims to garner over Rs 60,000 crore in the current fiscal to meet its revised disinvestment target of Rs 78,000 crore.

However, in the wake of the market volatility due to the Ukraine-Russia war, there might be a rethink on the timing of the LIC share sale.

"There are certain unanticipated events which have taken over right now. We are closely watching the market and certainly whatever the government will do, we will do in the best interest of the investors and also the IPO," Pandey, Secretary of Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), said.

Speaking at the seventh National Conference on Economics of Competition Law, 2022, he also said the government's desire to come up with the IPO of the state-owned insurer this fiscal year itself.

The financial year is ending on March 31.

"That is always been our desire, but now with this crisis which has come up, it is also a very dynamic situation. We are closely watching (the situation) and since you know you are dealing with the market all the time, so we have to be watchful and make our strategy accordingly," Pandey stressed.

He also said the government is guided by professional advisors and whatever decision is taken, it will be in the best interest of the investors and the stakeholders.

"LIC is not really any strategic investment but yes it is a very important event, as LIC being a very old organisation to wider public ownership. This is also one of the important objectives of the government. We have brought in several listings in the recent past like Railtel, IRCTC, among others," Pandey said.

He also said that it is because of the LIC IPO proposal that one crore new demat accounts have been opened.

"LIC alone has brought in something like one crore new demat (dematerialised) accounts. Now the demat accounts have gone up to more than 8 crore and tremendous amount of new energy has also come in terms of retail investors," he added.