FDI policy update in the works to push LIC selloff: DPIIT Secretary

Industry secretary Anurag Jain said on Thursday that the government is making changes in the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy to facilitate disinvestment of the country's largest insurer Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).

"We are working on further simplification of the FDI policy. A very important point for further simplification is required urgently as we have to do the LIC disinvestment," said Jain, secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

The current FDI policy will not facilitate the disinvestment process of LIC, said Jain. "So, we would be coming out with a revised FDI policy which will facilitate LIC disinvestment," he said.


The cabinet had approved the initial public offering of LIC in July last year and the stake sale is being planned in the ongoing quarter. Expected to be the biggest ever in the Indian market, it's pegged at about Rs 1 lakh crore.

The matter is being discussed with the Department of Financial Services (DFS) and Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM).