Institutional investors participating in the government’s 6.5% disinvestment in the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), over-subscribed to the offer for sale (OFS) today, on 4 August (Tuesday), bidding ₹36,400 crore, according to a PTI report.
This comes four years after the insurance behemoth’s initial public offering (IPO), fetched ₹21,000 crore for the Centre, it added.
Institutional investors bids for over 94.45 crore shares
Institutional investors participating in the LIC OFS put in bids for more than 94.45 crore shares, at an indicative price of ₹383.84/share. At the indicative price, the bids are valued at ₹36,400 crore in total.
Shares of LIC slid 7.86% to close at ₹391 on the BSE. Its market capitalisation stands at ₹4.95 lakh crore.
- The issue will open for retail investors tomorrow on Wednesday, 5 August 2025.
Govt set to add ₹31,000 crore to disinvestment purse
At the floor price, the sale of over 82.22 crore shares or a 6.5% stake, will fetch about ₹31,000 crore to the Centre’s disinvestment kitty.
The stake sale will help LIC achieve the MPS requirement mandated by market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) ahead of its 16 May 2027 deadline.
SEBI had given the insurance company time to achieve a minimum 10% public shareholding. At present, the government holds a 96.5% stake in LIC.
LIC disinvestment ongoing process
Notably, the central government had earlier sold 3.5% in LIC through an IPO in May 2022 at a price band of ₹902-949 per share, raising about ₹21,000 crore, the report added. In April 2026, the LIC board approved a 1:1 bonus issue.
In this fiscal, the central government has so far mopped up ₹21,082 crore through stake sale in seven public sector undertakings (PSUs) and remittances from Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI).
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