As market soars, biggest investor LIC stays away
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), the biggest equity investor in India, is staying away from the stock markets at a time when the markets are almost hitting life-time high. The insurer, a dominant player in the market, pruned its investments 38% to Rs 39,705 crore for the nine month period ended December 31, 2016, against Rs 64,000 crore last year. It sold Rs 38,000 crore worth of equities during the period. V K Sharma, chairman and managing director, LIC said, “We have deliberately taken this decision because of the way the markets are moving, LIC is a contrarian player in the market.” He said equity usually forms 12% of the total investible assets. LIC said its equity market investments will remain subdued but may hit a level of Rs 50,000 crore by the end of the financial year. During this period the corporation also invested about Rs 1.98 lakh crore into the debt market, bulk of which — Rs1.83 lakh crore – was into the government bonds The state-owned insurer reported a 78% rise in