Congress slams govt over fall in LIC's market capitalisation

As the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) marked one year since listing its shares on the stock exchanges, the Congress on Wednesday attacked the Modi government over the firm's market capitalisation reportedly taking a fall of about 35 per cent.

The country's largest insurer LIC had this day last year listed its shares on the NSE and the BSE.

In a tweet, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "Exactly a year ago today, LIC was listed in the stock market. Its market capitalisation then stood at Rs 5.48 lakh crore. Today, this is down to Rs 3.59 lakh crore—a fall of a whopping 35 per cent!"

Read | LIC plans investment exposure caps post Adani share rout: Report

"There is only one reason for this steep fall—Modani. In the process, lakhs and lakhs of policyholders have taken a serious hit," Ramesh said and tagged a screenshot of a media report which claimed that LIC share has wiped out Rs 1.9 lakh crore since listing.

The Congress has been attacking the government over the fall in the value of LIC's holdings in the Adani Group and had asked who "forced" this pillar of India's financial system to take such a “risky exposure” to the conglomerate.

The Congress has been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the allegations against the Adani Group by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research.

The Adani Group has dismissed the allegations as baseless.