LIC nets 15% gains from equity play at Rs 24,373 cr in FY15

State-owned insurer made Rs 21,257 cr profit from equity markets in financial year 2014

In spite of mounting regulatory glare and analyst criticism, state-run financial sector powerhouse LIC has reaped rich returns from its equity market play in the last fiscal with 15% gains at Rs 24,373 crore.

The benchmark BSE Sensex made 25% gains during 2014-15.

The Corporation, which is the nation's largest institutional investor, had made a profit of Rs 21,257 crore from the equity markets in the financial year 2014 and Rs 24,373 crore in 2014-15, which is a gain of 14.65%.

The returns come even as the Corporation had invested Rs 7,328 crore less in 2014-15 than what it had invested in the previous year. While LIC had invested Rs 54,330 crore into the markets in 2013-14, its investments in 2014-15 were only Rs 47,002 crore, LIC chairman S K Roy said during a recent interaction with PTI.

But he did not proffer a number neither for the Corporation's investment plans for this fiscal year nor the profit target, saying "investments and profit equities in the current fiscal will depend on the market conditions."

However, Roy was quick to add that LIC would strive to cross this figure in FY 2016, but final figure will depend on the opportunities available in the equity market in 2015-16.

The Sensex and the Nifty posted their best show in 2014-15

since 2010, registering a hefty rise of 25% in 2014-15, mainly driven by surge in foreign inflows after the Modi government took charge.

During 2014-15, the Sensex rose by 5,571.22 points or 24.88% to 27,957.49 from 22,386.27 on March 31, 2014, after touching all-time high of 30,024.74 on March 4.

The Nifty on the other hand zoomed by 1,786.80 points, or 26.65%, to settle the fiscal at 8,491 after scaling lifetime high of 9,119.20 on March 4 this year.

With over Rs 2 trillion holdings, LIC is the single largest investor on Dalal Street, having considerable stake in all the blue-chips.

Having over 300 million policyholders and total assets of over Rs 17.7 trillion, LIC is the largest insurer and any solvency issue with it can really create systemic issues not only for the market but for the entire economy, therefore the worry of the regulators.

As of end March 2015, LIC's holdings in Central and state government securities stood at Rs 10,35,424.86 crore, Roy said, adding the Corporation plans to do gross investment of Rs 3.75 trillion in the current fiscal year.