Centre Refutes Speculation On LIC’s Public Offer, Says IPO On Course

New Delhi: The Central government on Sunday refuted the reports in a certain section of media doubting the feasibility of the initial public offer (IPO) of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).

Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), Tuhin Kanta Pandey scotched the speculation in a Twitter post.

“Some media speculation doubting the feasibility of LIC IPO this fiscal year is not correct. It is reiterated that plan is on course for the IPO in the last quarter of this fiscal,” Pandey said in the post.

It was speculated in the media that LIC’s IPO is unlikely to take place in the current financial year as the Centre was yet to take steps on certain issues and several regulatory processes were yet to be completed. The valuation of LIC involves a complex procedure considering its voluminous size, varied products, assets, subsidiaries and profitability sharing structure.

Though the IPO requires approval of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA), both entities do not have a head for almost seven months.

Under the circumstances, the government would find it difficult to announce the IPO by the fourth quarter of the current fiscal, the media reports stated.

The Centre has announced the listing of LIC IPO and BPCL strategic sale to meet its disinvestment target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore this fiscal.