LIC IPO undervalued by Modi govt, says Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday blamed the Modi government for undervaluing India’s biggest initial public offering (IPO) by Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).
In a tweet, Gandhi listed out the valuable assets in possession the insurance behemoth and asked the Centre why India’s most valuable assets were being sold at a throwaway price.

He also said that LIC’s IPO will be world No. 1 in terms of providing return on investment to shareholders.
This is not the first time that the Congress leader has taken a jibe at Centre decision to sell stake in LIC.
In September 2020, when reports of LIC’s stake sale surfaced, he had alleged that the Centre is running a ‘sell government company’ campaign. He had also stated that the government is selling nation’s assets to compensate the economic crisis created by it.
In a tweet in Hindi, Gandhi had said that selling LIC is yet another “shameful attempt” of the government to risk people’s future and trust.

The former Congress President has time and again accused the Centre of privatising public sector units (PSUs) and destroying jobs.
India’s biggest IPO opened for public subscription on May 2 and will remain open till May 9, including Saturday and Sunday.
The price band has been fixed at Rs 902-949 per equity share for the issue. The offer includes a reservation for eligible employees and policyholders. The retail investors and eligible employees will get a discount of Rs 45 per equity share, while policyholders will get a discount of Rs 60.
LIC reduced its IPO size to 3.5 per cent from 5 per cent decided earlier due to the prevailing choppy market conditions. Even after the reduced size of about Rs 20,557 crore, LIC IPO is going to be the biggest initial public offering ever in the country.
In 2 days, the IPO has been subscribed 97 per cent till now.