The mega public issue of Life Insurance Corporation is likely after mid-April as the Centre delays what will be the country’s biggest ever IPO from this month due to market volatility on account of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Senior finance ministry officials said the Centre has time till May 12 for the IPO, without filing fresh papers with Sebi.
The Telegraph had reported that the Modi government was toying with the idea of shifting the public offer to the next fiscal as the buoyant revenue collections for the fiscal offered the Centre the flexibility to push back the IPO.
Besides, the IPO dates can be calibrated with any fuel duty cut — that may be necessary on account of soaring crude prices.
Officials said they are waiting to assess the impact of the expected monetary tightening by the US Federal Reserve. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point at the end of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday.
The government plans to sell about 31.6 crore shares or 5 per cent stake in LIC, which is estimated to fetch it around Rs 60,000 crore .
Congress leader Manish Tiwari stoked controversy over the LIC IPO and the process for securing approvals from various regulatory authorities.
Raising a question in the Lok Sabha, Tiwari asked whether it was a fact that rules were being bent to rush through an approval from the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI) which was headless.
He wanted to know whether the government had deliberately brushed aside opinion from its own bureaucrats not to go through with the selloff when the insurance regulator was headless.
The suggestion had apparently been made by the People’s Commission on Public Sector and Public Services which had “urged the cabinet secretary to advise the cabinet not to divest its stake in the LIC in these circumstances”.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in the Lok Sabha has clarified that under the IRDAI Act, 1999, the powers and functions of the authority are vested collectively in the collective body of its members.
“Thus, even when there is a vacancy in the office of the Chairperson, the Authority is in position to exercise its powers and discharge its functions in accordance with the applicable law,” Sitharaman stated.
In a surprise move last week, former finance secretary Debasish Panda on Monday took charge as the new chairman of the IRDAI.
The appointment of the IRDAI chairman comes nearly nine months after the vacancy was created following Subhash Chandra Khuntia completing his term in May last year.
IDBI sale
The government plans to invite expressions of interest to sell its stake in LIC-controlled IDBI Bank by the next month-end, a senior official has said.
As part of the divestment, the government plans to sell its entire 45.48 per cent stake eventually. The government may look to sell around a 26 per cent stake in the bank.
