If LIC were listed, it would be the most valued company: Arun Jaitley

Life Insurance Corporation would be the most valued company in the stock exchange if it were listed, said Arun Jaitley Finance Minister at LIC event today.

“LIC has been created as a monolith,” said Jaitley. “If LIC was the company listed on the stock exchange, perhaps it would be the most valued company.”

LIC, which controls 70 per cent of the life insurance market in terms of new business income and has assets under management of over Rs 22 lakh crore, has not lost its position in the market despite 16 years of privatisation.

Jaitley said that private sector has been more nimble in adopting change as LIC as a state run company has its constraints.

“The private sector is free from bureaucratic controls,” said Jaitley. “The private sector can take market centric decisions and deliver them quickly. State run companies’ mentality is bound by several processes and regulations. Therefore, their functioning is constraint.”

LIC today announced one time reversionary bonus for its policyholders of with-profit policies. It will pay Rs 5 to Rs 60 per Rs 1,000 sum assured, depending on the tenor of the policy. The bonus will be reversed back to the policy, and the amount will be paid at maturity.