LIC offer for sale not on cards, says DIPAM secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey

The government is in no rush to further dilute its stake in the largest insurance company Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), that’s the word coming in from the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey.

In an exclusive conversation with CNBC-TV18, the DIPAM secretary said LIC management has been working hard to not just improve its financial performance but also communicate it to the investors.

According to Pandey, the government is looking at different parameters like LIC's digital drive and its new product additions but is in no rush to dilute its holding in LIC. This comes at a time when the government still has a long way to go on its divestment path and achieve its FY24 target.

Speaking on fundraising and divestment, the DIPAM secretary said divestments and dividends are quite interlinked and dividends for the government have performed better than expectations.

According to Pandey, the government has raised ₹32,000 crore through disinvestments and dividends where the target is ₹94,000 crore.

PSU insurance companies have seen a strong rally this week and LIC is also one of the stocks there. LIC’s stock has rallied over 17% in the last 15 days and 11% in the last week.

The insurer has added over ₹70,000 crore in market capitalisation in the last 15 days. Despite the rally, LIC’s share price is still about 30% away from its IPO price.