LIC sees marginal appreciation in ONGC investment value till March

The country’s largest insurer, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), has seen a marginal appreciation in its investment in Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) till March 31. “The amount of money invested by LIC in ONGC shares till March 31, was Rs 20,493.60 crore. The value of this investment as on March 31 is Rs 21,752.91 crore,” Minister of State for Finance, Namo Narain Meena, said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. In March, the government had raised Rs 12,767 crore through auction of ONGC shares. The share sale was subscribed 98.3 per cent. LIC had subscribed to 84 per cent of the shares on offer. Following this, LIC’s stake in ONGC had gone up to 9.48 per cent. According to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority norms, insurers cannot hold more than 10 per cent stake in any company. In another reply, Meena said the book value of the total outstanding investment in PSU shares as on March 31, 2012, was Rs 59,116.36 crore while its market value was Rs 59,851.16 crore.