South Central Zone Insurance Employees’ Federation (SCZIEF) president K. Venugopal Rao has expressed concern over the Central government’s resolve to withdraw its stake in the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and the proposal to increase foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector by 74%.
Addressing the media here on Friday, Mr. Venugopala Rao said the hiring of consultants to assist the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management in making the Initial Public Offer in LIC and the under-valuation of its actual value were highly objectionable.
He expressed regret that the Central government had not made any additional investment in the LIC, except for a capital infusion of ₹5 crore in 1956, in spite of its stellar performance.
‘Unparalleled growth’
He pointed out that the LIC achieved unparalleled growth, and the number of its policyholders (40 crore) was the world’s largest. It had a phenomenal asset base of ₹32 lakh crore, he said.
The sale of the Central government’s stake in LIC was detrimental to the country’s economic self-reliance and the interests of its policyholders, he asserted.
In this background, the 12th general conference of the SCZIEF is being held in Vijayawada on April 24 and 25.
SCZIEF leaders K. Jayateertha, Md. Mehabub, P. Satish, G. Kishore Kumar, Ch. Kaladhar, N.M.K. Prasad, J. Madhusudana Rao, L. Anand, V.V.K. Suresh, K. Venkateswarlu, T. Chanderpal and L. Rajasekhar were present.
