LIC IPO likely to get pushed to next fiscal amid volatility due to Russia-Ukraine war

7 Mar 2022 , 12:37 PM

According to the media reports, the mega initial public offering (IPO) of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is set to be delayed into the next financial year amid heightened uncertainty over Russia-Ukraine war crisis which led the market sentiments doomed.

Earlier, few reports stated that mega IPO was likely to open for anchor investors on March 11, 2022 but considering the current market volatility, the government would closely observe the market swings before taking any conclusion on the date announcements.

Further, the government was looking to sell 5 per cent stake in Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) this month, which could have fetched over Rs60,000 crore to the exchequer.

“The weak market sentiments, especially in the wake of the Ukraine-Russia war, have been a dampener for the IPO. While there is a possibility of the IPO getting postponed, the issue remains critical to the government’s disinvestment plans”, Tanushree Banerjee Co-Head of Research-Equitymaster, was quoted by Livemint. 

During a recent interview with Hindu Business Line, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has “stated the government position” on the matter, the official said, referring to her remarks, where she suggested that the emerging global situation may warrant a relook at the IPO timing.

“Ideally, I’d like to go ahead with it because we had planned it for some time based purely on Indian considerations,” FM Sitharaman told in the interview.

She added further, “if global considerations warrant that I need to look at it, I wouldn’t mind looking at it again”.

Meanwhile, Indian markets were bleeding in red on Monday’s trade due to weakening in global markets as concerns over the Russian invasion of Ukraine fuels panic profit booking and crude oil reaching a multi-year high. A broad-based sell-off was witnessed across indices on exchanges BSE and NSE with Sensex diving to near 52,800-level and Nifty 50 even reaching near 15,800-level.