Mumbai, March 9: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has approved the public listing of insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation(LIC), paving the way for the government to divest five per cent of its stake in the insurer. Sources having knowledge regarding the development confirmed to UNI that the market watchdog has given its approval for the much-awaited LIC’s mega IPO. The insurance major’s IPO is one of the fastest to get Sebi approvals. LIC had filed its draft papers on February 12. The government hopes to raise over Rs 60,000 crore from the IPO as it plans to sell over 31.6 crore shares or its five per cent stake in the company. While the government has taken all the steps to speed up the IPO process to meet its divestment targets, experts believe that its launch may get spilled over to the next fiscal year in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. “The war situation between Russia and Ukraine has caused many IPOs to halt. About 40-50 companies were set to raise Rs 77000 Cr from the market. The rising crude prices have caused inflationary concerns for companies, whose effect is seen on the stock prices falling. The major IPO of LIC was expected to launch by March-end but now it will be done in the next fiscal,” Proficient Equities Founder and Director Manoj Dalmia said. He further said that some IPOs like Go Airlines, API Holdings, Delhivery, Emcure Pharma are planning to raise about Rs 25,000 crore, but the market is currently facing sell-offs by many FII’s, whose support is needed when such big-ticket size IPOs are involved to create liquidity. Echoing similar views, Research Share India Vice President and Head Ravi Singh said the current situation in the market and high volatility is likely to continue due to geopolitical tensions and fear of stagflation on account of higher crude and other commodities prices. “As the response in the primary market depends on the activities in the secondary market, the extraordinary volatility in the primary market since the last few months has forced the companies to hit a pause button on their respective IPO’s,” he added. UNI
