The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management
(DIPAM) is likely to meet investment bankers for the Life Insurance Corporation
(LIC) Initial Public Offering (IPO) today. The department conducted market
assessments and found that the current situation is favourable for the listing
of India’s largest insurance company.

The government could file an updated draft red herring
prospectus (UDRHP) for the LIC IPO with the market regulator Securities
Exchange Board of India (SEBI), reported CNBC TV18.

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The government is considering launching the LIC IPO by
May, as suggested by government officials to the group of ministers headed by
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Further, the committee is expected to make
a decision soon in this regard and give approval to officials for the public
offering of shares of the state-owned insurance giant.

According to the current DRHP, the government will dilute
a 5% stake in LIC.

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The LIC public issue will be the largest in the history
of the Indian stock market. Upon listing, LIC’s market value would be
comparable to leading companies like RIL and TCS.

Initially, the government planned to sell 31.6 crore
shares or a 5% stake of LIC in March, but since the market has been volatile
due to the Russia-Ukraine crisis, these plans have been put on hold.

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Up to 10% of the LIC IPO issue size will be reserved for
policyholders.

There is time until May 12 for the government to launch
the LIC IPO without filing fresh papers with the market regulator SEBI, and if
it misses the May 12 deadline, LIC would have to file new documents with SEBI
adding the results of the December quarter and updating the embedded value.

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LIC’s embedded value, a metric of the consolidated
shareholder value in an insurance company, was estimated at around Rs 5.4 lakh
crore as of September 30, 2021. However, the DRHP does not disclose the market
valuation of LIC.