IPO-bound LIC reports ₹235-crore Q3 profit

Life Insurance Corporation’s (LIC) profit rose to ₹234.91 crore in the third quarter of the current financial year from ₹0.91 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

LIC’s profit for the first nine months of FY21, which ended last December, climbed to ₹1,642.78 crore from ₹7.08 crore in the year-ago period. earlier.

The IPO-bound company has reported profits worth ₹29,102 crore from the sale of investments in the first six months of the current financial year.

LIC had filed its draft papers for IPO on February 13. The government is aiming to sell close to a 5 per cent stake through the IPO, which is expected to fetch around ₹60,000 crore.

Also read: Govt may defer LIC IPO to next fiscal amid Ukraine crisis: Experts

The profit from the sales of investments, largely equity assets, were already at 63 per cent of the profits of ₹46,187 crore amassed by LIC for the financial year ended March 2021.

On January 25, LIC had reported a profit after tax of ₹1,437 crore for the first half of the financial year 2021-22 as compared with ₹6.14 crore in the same period a year ago.

Also read: In two minds about LIC IPO? Here’s a SWOT analysis

The government is expected to defer the mega IPO of LIC to the next financial year as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has dampened fund managers interest in the public issue.

The IPO would have helped meet the curtailed disinvestment target of ₹78,000 crore this fiscal.