LIC will be India’s fifth-largest company

The much-awaited Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), is all set to launch next week. After the launch of the IPO, LIC might become the fifth-largest company in terms of market capitalization on the Indian bourses. The Indian Government is aiming to raise ₹21,000 crores by selling 22.13 crore shares or a 3.5% stake in the life insurance giant. Previously, the valuation of LIC was estimated at around ₹13 lakh crore, which currently now came down to ₹6 lakh crore. As per this estimate, Life Insurance Corporation will become the fifth-largest company in the Indian stock market.

The sudden invasion of Ukraine by Russia delayed the IPO and eventually led the government to sell less stake in the company than earlier stated. This in turn brought down the valuation of the LIC. While the IPO of LIC is still the biggest IPO in the history of the stock market, its issue size is close to that of Paytm, the second largest issue ever. Analysts think that LIC is significantly lower valued than other listed private companies despite being the dominant player. LIC’s price band is fixed at ₹902-₹949.