An IPO without LIC support is akin to a baby walking without a walker

Finance ministry is trying to depend less on the likes of LIC for public sector undertaking share sales

Baby walker

Finance ministry arm Dipam is trying to depend less on the likes of LIC for public sector undertaking (PSU) share sales. Speaking at an event, a Dipam official highlighted that investments by state-owned insurers and banks in PSU disinvestments this fiscal have been much less than the previous fiscal. However, the downside of this has been that two PSU’s initial public offerings struggled to garner full subscription, forcing them to lower the price and extend their closing dates. An investment banker has an interesting take on this: “An IPO without LIC support is akin to a baby trying to walk without a walker. You are bound to fall,” he said.

Money matters

The wealth of some politicians is growing fast. While Telangana and Andhra Pradesh top the list for producing the wealthiest leaders in the country, Tamil Nadu tops the list of billionaire politicians. In Telangana, Konda Vishweshwar Reddy of the Congress is the richest among politicians of the three states with family assets worth Rs 895 crore. Andhra Pradesh cabinet Minister P Narayana, owner of the Narayana Group of Institutions, has declared family assets worth Rs 667 crore. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has declared family assets worth Rs 574 crore. YSR Congress Chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy’s assets, combined with that of his wife and daughters, are valued over Rs 510 crore against Rs 311 crore he had declared in 2011. In Tamil Nadu, Congress' Kanniyakumari candidate and businessman Vasanthakumar tops the table with assets worth Rs 417.49 crore, followed by Makkal Needhi Maiam's Coimbatore candidate R Mahendran, whose declared assets total Rs 133.30 crore.

Taking slogan to heart

Upset at not being granted a party ticket for the coming Lok Sabha election, Uttar Pradesh's Hardoi Member of Parliament Anshul Verma (pictured) on Wednesday joined the Samajwadi Party. Shifting camps is nothing usual before an election, but what made Verma's move interesting was the fact that he handed over his resignation to one of the chowkidars at the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters in Lucknow. Looks like Verma took his party's "main bhi chowkidar" slogan more seriously than it was intended to be. He later clarified that he was not granted an audience with any "responsible BJP leader".