After a record-breaking IPO last week, India’s insurance behemoth, the Life Insurance Corporation or LIC, made a shaky market debut on Tuesday. According to a Bloomberg report, shares in the state-owned insurance giant fell 9.4% to 860 rupees in Mumbai in the first hour of trading, compared to the issue price of 949 rupees. The government raised $2.7 billion (Rs 20,557 crore) last week by selling a 3.5 percent stake in the country’s top insurer, which was at the top of the range. However, analysts believe that global market volatility has cast a pall over the Dalal Street debut.
1. According to Reuters, a LIC executive stated that the company “should be able to settle our market share at 62-63 percent of the insurance market.” “We’ll look to push the guaranteed return plan products in the future to improve margin,” the executive said.
2. The LIC IPO was nearly three times oversubscribed, thanks to the enthusiasm of policyholders who received a 60 discount with multiple bids for the shares on offer. The shares were sold to LIC policyholders and retail investors for $889 and $904 respectively.
3. Despite opposition criticism, the government decided to proceed with the IPO despite a global fundraising slowdown and decreased appetite among foreign investors due to the Ukraine conflict. According to a PTI report, the government has sold over 22.13 crore shares through the IPO.
4. Despite the absence of foreign investment, the IPO was said to be well received by retail and institutional investors.
5. Many dubbed the LIC IPO, which was the country’s largest to date, “India’s Aramco moment.” Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Aramco raised $25 billion in the world’s largest initial public offering (IPO) in 2019, breaking Alibaba’s record.
6. According to the latest Ernst and Young report, the Indian IPO market slowed significantly in the first quarter of this year.
7. The slowdown is thought to be caused by geopolitical tensions, stock market volatility, a price correction in overvalued stocks from recent IPOs, as well as concerns about rising commodity and energy prices and slower economic growth.
8. The Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange have both listed LIC shares.
9. Previously, the amount raised from the Paytm IPO in 2021 was the highest at 18,300 crore, followed by nearly 15,500 crore from Coal India (2010) and 11,700 crore from Reliance Power (2008).
10. The LIC share sale was originally scheduled for March but was postponed due to the Ukraine conflict.
