India’s largest insurer – Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) – has invested around Rs 40,000 crore in equity this fiscal, exceeding the total equity investments made in the last financial year.
Every year LIC invests around 8-9% of its total premium collection in the stock markets, majority being in the banking sector.
This year the state owned insurer picked up a 2.11% stake in State Bank of India (SBI) for Rs 1,484.12 crore, taking its total shareholding to 9.16% (4.94 crore shares).
The insurer hiked its stake in Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) by 2.86%, in Cummins India by 2.18% and increased its stake in ICICI Bank to 9.38%.
It also upped its stake in various other state-run banks like Union Bank of India (2.18 per cent), Oriental Bank of Commerce (2.60 per cent), Bank of India (1.63 per cent), Canara Bank (1.21 per cent) and Punjab National Bank (0.38 per cent).