Lic Looks To File For Ipo By Jan 3rd Week

(This story originally appeared in on Jan 04, 2022)

Mumbai: In one of its interactions with global investors in the run-up to its record-setting initial public offering (IPO), top LIC officials have indicated that the life insurer is expected to file its draft prospectus with Sebi by the third week of January. For several months, officials at the finance ministry have maintained that LIC would be a listed entity before fiscal 2022 ends. The IPO size is expected to be worth about Rs 1 lakh crore, which will make it the biggest ever equity offering in India.

Among a host of other information that LIC officials shared with those investors was the life insurance major’s increasing focus on non-participating products like ULIPs, pension, annuity and health insurance products, sources said. This is part of LIC’s efforts to diversify its product mix and increase sales of existing non-participating products as well as launching new non-participating products, they said.

As part of its growth plans, the life insurance major also wants to recruit more millennial agents to keep pace with the changing demographic pattern of India. According to some estimates, about 67% of India’s population are in the age group of 15-64 years and the median age is nearly nine years.

Additionally, LIC officials told investors that the insurer wants to increase its market share of the bancassurance channel as it’s in the process of tying up with more partners. The life insurance major is also pushing for increasing digital adoption for its bancassurance partners to improve productivity, sources said.

Officials further told investors how LIC wants to increase up-selling and cross-selling to individual customers, expand average ticket size of the products it sells and also increase the productivity of its intermediaries. In earlier presentations to prospective investors in the LIC IPO, its officials had told them how the insurance company wants to leverage its digital strategy to grow its business.