Employees of LIC of India in the Mysuru region staged a demonstration during lunch break on Thursday to oppose the Government’s proposed move to disinvest from LIC and float Initial Public Offer (IPO).
More than 100 employees assembled at the LIC Divisional Office at the Millennium Circle in the city to air their opposition. In all, about 1,000 employees are on the rolls of LIC in Mysuru Division and the demonstration was held at all the 23 branches of LIC in five districts comprising the division.
The LIC employees said the BJP Government was in a hurry to sell the national assets at a throwaway price by disinvesting in public sector companies. Instead of taxing the rich to meet the budgetary requirements, the Government was trying to sell the public assets to corporates and private capital and this is contrary to the concept of Atmanirbhar Bharat, according to the members of South Central Zone Insurance Employees Federation.
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The public sector LIC as well as the general insurance companies have been performing exemplarily well over the years fulfilling the objectives of nationalisation and have won the trust of the people. The LIC has invested more than ₹32 lakh crore in nation-building activities such as road constructions, housing, and irrigation,and it funds almost 25 per cent of internal borrowings of the Government of India, according to the Federation. “The LIC holds assets worth ₹38 lakh crores and has settled 99.86 per cent of the claims which underscores its efficiency’’, the Federation added. It pointed out that when there was a global economic crisis in 2008 when most of the listed corporate giants collapsed the world over, it was the strong presence of the public sector financial institutions in India including the LIC that helped the Indian economy to withstand and absorb the shock of the crisis, according to the Federation.
The demonstrators demanded that the proposal to list LIC in the stock market should be withdrawn, increase of FDI in insurance from 49 per cent to 74 per cent should be withdrawn, privatisation of public sector general insurance companies should be stopped and the GST on the insurance premium should also be withdrawn.