The initial public offering of the country's largest insurer LIC will open on May 4 and close on May 9, sources said.

The IPO, through which the government will sell 3.5 per cent stake in state-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), will fetch Rs 21,000 crore to the exchequer.

The IPO values LIC at Rs 6 lakh crore.

The government had in February planned to sell 5 per cent stake or 31.6 crore shares in the insurance behemoth and had filed draft papers with Sebi.

However, the IPO plans faced headwinds from the ongoing market volatility due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

Last week, the government decided to lower the issue size to 3.5 per cent.

The government has also filed papers with Sebi seeking exemption from the 5 per cent stake sale norm, sources said.

As the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) norms, companies with valuation over Rs 1 lakh crore have to sell 5 per cent stake in IPO.

LIC's embedded value, which is a measure of the consolidated shareholders value in an insurance company, was pegged at about Rs 5.4 lakh crore as of September 30, 2021, by international actuarial firm Milliman Advisors.

Based on investor feedback, the market value of government-owned LIC has been pegged at 1.1 times its embedded value or Rs 6 lakh crore.

LIC IPO would contribute a major chunk to the budgeted disinvestment proceeds in the current fiscal. The government has pegged disinvestment receipts at Rs 65,000 crore in the current financial year, up from Rs 13,531 crore mopped up last fiscal.