LIC owned more than a 1 per cent stake in 278 NSE-listed companies as of December 31. It alone commanded a 77 per cent share of investments in equities by insurance companies.
NEW DELHI: Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) holding in Indian stocks stood at 3.67 per cent at the end of December quarter, its lowest ever. On the flip side, its holding in value terms stood at an all-time high of Rs 9.53 lakh crore at the end of the third quarter, up 1.46 per cent sequentially, a Prime Database study suggests.
LIC owned more than a 1 per cent stake in 278 NSE-listed companies as of December 31. It alone commanded a 77 per cent share of investments in equities by insurance companies.
In percentage terms, IDBI Bank was LIC's biggest holding at 49.24 per cent as of December 31. In LIC Housing Finance, it owns a 45.24 per cent stake.
ITC (16.21 per cent), Hindustan Copper (14.22 per cent), NMDC (14.16 per cent), MTNL (13.12 per cent), Larsen & Toubro (12 per cent) and Oil India (11.85 per cent) were some of the companies where LIC has the highest shareholdings in percentage terms.
In value terms, LIC held Rs 95,274 crore worth Reliance Industries' shares as of December 31. TCS and Infosys were its next two biggest holdings at the end of the December quarter, together amounting to Rs 95,488 crore in value.
ITC (Rs 43,557 crore), SBI (Rs 33,855), L&T (Rs 31,960), ICICI Bank (Rs 31,948 and Hindustan Unilever (Rs 24,747 crore) were among its biggest holdings as of December 31 in value terms.
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Meanwhile, Power Grid, Dredging India, Computer Services, Coforge, Deepak Nitrite and JSW STeel were some of the companies where LIC increased its stake in the December quarter.
IRB Infra, ABB India, Hindustan Motors, Sterlite Technologies, HAL and Bombay Dyeing were some of the companies where it cut holdings in the same period.
Overall basis, LIC's holding went up in 85 companies listed on NSE in the last one quarter, Prime Database said. The average stock price of these companies in the same period increased by 0.69 per cent. On the other hand, LIC holding went down in 99 NSE listed companies. The average stock price of these companies in the same period increased by a much higher 4.88 per cent.
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LIC itself is coming out with an IPO.
As per media reports, insurance regulator IRDAI has cleared LIC India's proposal for the public issue. As per an ET NOW report, the life insurer may file a draft red herring prospectus with Sebi on Thursday.
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The IPO size is expected to be in the range of Rs 70,000 crore to Rs 1 lakh crore, Angel One said in a note. With this, LIC would command a market capitalisation of Rs 13-15 lakh crore post listing.
