IPO Bound LIC Ropes in 6 Independent Directors on Its Board

Ahead of initial public offering (IPO), Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has last month appointed six independent directors on its board to meet regulatory norms of corporate governance. LIC appointed former financial services secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal, ex-Sebi member G Mahalingam, former SBI Life managing director Sanjeev Nautiyal, sources said.

Besides, chartered accountants MP Vijay Kumar, Raj Kamal, and V S Parthasarathy are roped in as independent directors on LIC's board. With the appointment, the total number of independent directors goes up to 9 and all vacancies are filled. Fulfilling corporate governance norms is an important element for filing Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

The central government is expected to file draft papers for the mega initial public offering of LIC with market regulator Sebi by this week, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey had said. The embedded value of LIC has been arrived at and it is over Rs 5 lakh crore. The size of the issue would be mentioned in the DRHP.

The issue, after approval of Sebi, is likely to hit the market in March, Pandey said. Up to 10 per cent of the LIC IPO issue size would be reserved for policyholders. LIC's listing is crucial for the government to meet the lowered revenue estimates of Rs 78,000 crore for the current financial year.

Till now, the Centre has raised around Rs 12,000 crore from privatisation of Air India and stake sale in other PSUs. To facilitate smooth listing of the insurance behemoth, the government last week extended the tenure of LIC chairman M R Kumar for one year.

Besides, the government has also extended the tenure of one of the managing directors, Raj Kumar, for 12 months. This is the second extension for the LIC chairman. Last year in June, he was given a nine-month extension in a view of LIC's proposed initial public offering towards the end of the current financial year.

(PTI)