Employees of different branches of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India in Dhanbad left their respective offices for two hours and staged demonstrations outside the branch office as part of their nationwide strike against issuance of IPO to state owned insurance group and investment company.

The protesters termed it as the first step of privatization of the state owned insurance company and claimed that that IPO is against the fundamental objectives of the LIC.

Arjun Mahto, an LIC employee of Sindri Branch of LIC who led the protest as president of Sindri unit of Bima Karmchari Sangh, in Saharpura area of Sindri, said, “In the glorious history of 65 years there is no area of Indian Economy left where the footprints of LIC are missing.”

Avinash Kumar, secretary of the Sindri unit of Bima Karmchari said, “Upset over its failure on all fronts of economy, the central government has now resorted to falsehood and breach of trust against the common people” and issuance of the IPO of LIC is the example of this stance of the union government."

“To compensate its fiscal and budgetary deficit the central government is now selling the shares of LIC to manage the financial resources,” added Kumar.

“The government without holding any discussion with the policy holder of LIC has put their hard earned money to the risks of market and their money will not remain safe after the issuance of IPO” further claimed Kumar and added the LIC since its very inception over 65 years ago served as the most trusted insurance and investment organisation.

Shweta Kumari, one protesting employee, while echoing sentiments of other employees of LIC apprehended, “Following the issuance of IPO which is first stage of privatization LIC may behave like any other private company shifting its focus towards the elite section of the society in lure of charging high premiums instead of issuing large number of policies.”

Sujata Singh, another protester said, “There is no logic of issuing IPO of one of the most profit making insurance companies of the country having an embedded value of around Rs 5.4 lakh by subjecting its fund to market risks.”