Institutional Investors Subscribe Over 66% Of LIC Shares Till Afternoon Trade

 Institutional investors subscribed 66.10% of the shares reserved for them in the LIC Offer-for-Sale (OFS) till noon on Tuesday.

The government is offering over 28.46 crore shares in Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to institutional buyers at a floor price of ₹382 a piece.

Institutional investors put in bids for over 18.81 crore shares, or 66.10% of the shares reserved for them at an indicative price of Rs 382.07/share. Bidding will continue till 3:30 PM.

Retail investors would be able to put bids on Wednesday.

The government is selling up to 6.5% stake or over 82.22 crore in country's largest insurer LIC at a floor price of ₹382/share.

Shares of LIC slid 7.03% over Monday's close to ₹394.50 on the BSE in afternoon trade. Its market capitalisation stands at over Rs 4.98 lakh crore.

The issue comprises a base offer size of over 31.62 crore or 2.5% of total capital, with a green shoe option of 50.60 crore shares or 4 per cent of the total paid up capital.

If fully subscribed, the sale of over 82.22 crore shares or a 6.5% stake at the given floor price will fetch about ₹31,000 crore to the disinvestment kitty.

The floor price was set at a 10% discount over Monday's closing price of ₹424.35 on the BSE.

The stake sale will help LIC achieve the minimum public shareholding requirement mandated by market regulator Sebi ahead of schedule.

Sebi had given LIC time till May 16, 2027, to achieve a minimum 10% public shareholding.

At present, the government holds a 96.5% stake in LIC.

It had earlier sold 3.5% through an initial public offering (IPO) in May 2022 at a price band of ₹902-949 per share, raising about ₹21,000 crore.

In April 2026, the LIC board approved a 1:1 bonus issue.

So far in the current fiscal, the government has mopped up ₹21,082 crore through stake sale in seven public sector undertakings and remittances from SUUTI (Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India).