Policy Holders’ Money is Safe in LIC
:Ever since US based short seller Hindenburg Research published a damning report on the Adani group of companies, a large section of the people and political parties have expressed their concern over the LIC’s presumably high exposure to the Adani group of companies and how it could risk the savings of middle class Indians. Being responsible trade unions commanding the support of an overwhelming majority of the workforce in LIC and committed to promoting the interest of the policy holders and the people at large, we wish to clarify our position on the issue.
We are opposed to political patronage to any business group at the cost of public sector, the people and the economy. We feel that the government should conduct an impartial enquiry into the allegations made by the Hindenburg Report and find out the truth.
On the issue of LIC’s exposure to the Adani group of companies and its potential impact on the hard earned savings of millions of Indians, we would like to place that LIC is a long term investor and the investment decisions are taken keeping the long term benefits of the policy holders in mind. Since LIC is a statutory body created under an act of Parliament, all its investment decisions are subject to parliamentary scrutiny and regulatory supervision. Moreover, LIC has an investment board and the decisions on investment are taken by the board after thorough scrutiny. The investment policy of LIC is that 80% of its investments are made in secured instruments like government securities or bonds. Hardly 20% of the investments are made in equities. The funds invested by the policy holders are therefore absolutely safe.
Regarding the investment in the Adani group and the supposed loss to LIC, we have to clarify that this loss is only notional and not real. LIC has not sold any Adani group shares held by it in the market to sustain any loss. LIC has already clarified through its Press Statement dated 30th January 2023 that against the total investment of Rs.36,474.78 crore in the Adani group companies, the present market value stands at Rs. 56, 142 crore.