Govt mulls stake sale in LIC via FPO in next fiscal

New Delhi: The government is actively considering further reducing its stake in insurance behemoth LIC through a public offering in the next fiscal, Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju said on Monday.

Currently, the government holds a 96.5 per cent stake in LIC. It had sold 3.5 per cent through an IPO in May 2022 at a price band of Rs 902-949 per share. The share sale fetched around Rs 21,000 crore for the government.

Nagaraju said, “LIC public offer has to be done slowly. We have asked DIPAM (Department of Investment and Public Asset Management) to look at government stake dilution in LIC.” “LIC FPO may come in the next fiscal if all approvals are in place and market conditions are conducive,” he added.

The government is required to offload another 6.5 per cent stake in the PSU life insurer to meet the mandated 10 per cent public shareholding requirement by May 2027. The quantum of stake sale, price and timing would be decided in due course.

The Life Insurance Corporation, has a mcap of Rs 5.08 lakh crore, with shares settling at around Rs 804 on the BSE on Monday. On the financial front, the insurer reported a 32 per cent year-on-year jump in net profit to Rs 10,053 crore in the three months ended September 2025 from Rs 7,621 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal. The increase in profit was driven by a lower commission outgo.

The total income improved to Rs 2,39,614 crore in the three months ended September 2025 compared to Rs 2,29,620 crore in the year-ago period.