The Life Insurance Corporation of India need not rush to bring down its current stake in various companies to below 10 per cent. “I advise LIC to bring down the stake to below 10 per cent in a company. But, I don't want to put any timeframe for this. It can do so at its own pace,” Mr J Hari Narayan, Chairman, IRDA, told Business Line here on Wednesday.
As per the current norms of the regulator, no insurance company is allowed to have more than 10 per cent stake in a company. The regulator did not want to pressure LIC to adhere to existing norms by bringing down its stake in various companies in view of the likely adverse impact on market/investors, he added.
However, the state insurer has over 10 per cent stake in many companies, including State Bank of India, MTNL, ITC and Tata Steel.
The issue has come to the fore after LIC had invested Rs 12,000 crore in the auction of ONGC stake by the Government in February.
Mr Hari Narayan, however, said a request by LIC seeking permission to have higher stake than permitted by the norms was turned down.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.