Saturday, April 27, 2013

LIC Scripts New Record: Earns Profit Of Rs 20,000 Cr In FY' 2012-13

The largest insurer of the country, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India has registered a record profit of Rs 20,000 crore (highest in around 7-8 years) in fiscal year 2012-13.

The state-run insurer now aims to invest Rs 2.15 lac crore in the current fiscal out of which 10-15% or Rs 21,500 crore will be in equities.

In an interview with a business channel on Monday, LIC chairman Shri D K Mehrotra said, ““The profit that we booked last year has been the highest in the last almost seven-eight years because we did get good opportunities."

Last month, Shri Mehrotra, who is due to retire next month, had said that the fiscal year 2013-14 should see LIC “having a total investment target of, say, Rs 2.25-2.3 lakh crore."

“Of that, about 10% should go to equity. If something better comes, say, an IPO comes; we should raise it a bit. About Rs 25,000-30,000 crore."

It is widely believed LIC would be in focus once the divestment issues start hitting the market in the coming months. The government has set a target of Rs 40,000 crore by selling partial stake in listed PSUs. In FY 2012-13, LIC participated in seven divestment offerings - Hindustan Copper, NMDC, Oil India, NTPC, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF), Nalco, and SAIL.

Shri Mehrotra, however, had denied being labelled the government's 'bailout agency' asserting that all of LIC's investment decisions were based on its own assessment of market conditions and the fundamentals of the company.

No comments:

Post a Comment