Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: The Government has granted a one-time exemption to Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to achieve 25 per cent Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) within 10 years, the state-owned insurer said on December 21.
The country’s largest insurer, LIC was listed in May 2022. The Government had sold over 22.13 crore shares, or a 3.5 per cent stake in LIC, through an Initial Public Offering (IPO).
The Government currently holds 96.5 per cent stake in the company.
In a stock exchange filing, the state-owned insurer said the Department of Economic Affairs has decided to grant a “one-time exemption to LIC to achieve 25 per cent MPS within 10 years from the date of listing i.e., till May 2032”.
Earlier this year, the Government had amended the regulation so that listed state-run companies, including banks, will not need to comply with the rule requiring an MPS of 25 per cent even after their privatisation, if the Government decides so ‘in public interest.’ The exemption to the MPS rule was earlier available only to government-controlled companies.