Government Gets Ball Rolling For LIC's Landmark IPO; To Hire Deloitte, SBI Capital Markets As Advisers

Towards the implementation of its announcement from the Union Budget 2021-22 regarding the listing of the Life insurance Corporation (LIC) of India's shares on the bourses, the Government is set to hire Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Limited and SBI Capital Markets Limited to get the ball rolling, reports Economic Times.

The firms will advise the Government in evaluating the capital structure of the nation's largest insurer, and it will also guide LIC in reworking its financial statement. The Government will soon be inviting bids seeking to value the behemoth.

The initial public offering (IPO) of LIC is set to be the largest that the nation's bourses have ever witnessed, even as the Government is looking to monetise only a fraction of its shareholding in the insurance sector major.

The IPO will help the Government address a significant need for capital in the COVID-19 struck times as an outcome of which the Government is set to witness a considerable reduction in its earnings.

The IPO was announced by Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharamn during her Budget speech as a part of the Government's drive to carry out the highest-ever disinvestment exercise worth Rs 2.1 lakh crore in the ongoing fiscal.