Life Insurance Corporation

The life insurer has about four per cent of its equity investment portfolio in Adani Group companies. According to LIC, for the nine months ending December 31, the company had logged a total premium of Rs 3,42,244 crore (Rs 2,83,673 crore in 9 months ending December 31, 2021) and a net profit of Rs 22,970 crore (Rs 1,672 crore).

On BSE, LIC was down more than 8 per cent, HDFC Life was down more than 10 per cent, Max Financial was down more than 9 per cent, SBI Life Insurance was down more than 9 per cent while ICICI Prudential Life Insurance was down more than 10 per cent. Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said life insurance players witnessed heavy selling as the Budget pushed for the new tax regime, making insurance products less appealing as a tax-saving tool.

In a regulatory filing, the LIC said the credit rating of all of the Adani debt securities held by LIC are 'AA' and above which is in compliance with the IRDAI investment regulations as applicable to all life insurance companies. Shares of Adani group's listed entities came down after short seller Hindenburg Research came out with a report alleging fraud by the Indian conglomerate.

In a regulatory filing on Monday, the LIC said that its total AUM are over Rs 41.66 lakh crore as at September 30, 2022. Therefore, its exposure in the Adani group, as on date, is 0.975 per cent of its AUM at book value. The life insurer said the total amount invested under Adani Group amounts to Rs 36,474.78 crore as on date. These investments have, however, been made over a period.

"Presently there is a situation that's emerging and we are not sure what is the factual position ... Since we are a large investor we have the right to ask relevant questions and we will definitely engage with them," LIC Managing Director Raj Kumar was quoted as saying by Reuters.

LIC's total investment in Adani shares has been at Rs 28,400 crore. The value of these shares before the crash of last week was Rs 72,200 crore. The crash happened because of a research report by short seller, Hindenburg Research. Still, the value of Adani Group shares held by LIC is at Rs 55,700 crore and LIC's net gain is Rs 27,300 crore.

"Multiple Expressions of Interest received for the Strategic Disinvestment of Govt and LIC Stake in IDBI Bank. The transaction will now move to the second stage," tweeted Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary, DIPAM. The Central government and the Life Insurance Corporation of India hold 45.48 per cent and 49.24 per cent stake respectively, in the IDBI Bank.

According to LIC Housing, PLR is the benchmark rate to which the interest rate on its loans is linked. The new interest rates on home loans will now start from 8.65 per cent. The new rates will be effective from Monday, December 26, the company said.

Industry experts had earlier told IANS that the five companies can be merged into one under the composite insurance regime. According to Jefferies, the global experience in favour of the composite insurer are: better cross-sells, operational expense synergies and diversification.

The amendments proposed are: allowing composite insurers -- one insurer selling life and non-life insurance policies; enabling the insurance regulator to fix the minimum capital required and scrapping the statutory limits; changes in the investment norms; allowing different kinds of insurers including captives and others.