Life Insurance Corporation of India’s initial public offering gets SEBI approval

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has received the approval of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for its initial public offering (IPO), though it is not clear when the insurer will go ahead with it.

The approval for the insurance behemoth came 22 days after it had filed the draft papers, among the fastest clearances given by the market regulator. Typically, it takes around one-three months for the regulator to clear a company’s preliminary documents.

According to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) filed on February 12, the company aims to offload a 5% stake or 31.62 crore shares through the offer, which could fetch the insurer nearly Rs 65,000-75,000 crore. Further, the issue is likely to have reservations for eligible employees and LIC policyholders of the company, as per the DRHP.