MUMBAI: The government will go ahead with the much-awaited LIC IPO in the current fiscal year as planned, even as volatility, arising in part due to tightening liquidity conditions globally and partly due to geopolitical tensions, buffets the stock market.
“The LIC IPO has been eagerly awaited, and we are on course and are moving forward,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters at the conclusion of the 2-day budget outreach programme with industry, bankers and regulators.
Queried on the possibility of the insurer’s listing missing its deadline in the current fiscal, Sitharaman countered, “A DRHP is not filed two years in advance, is it?” “We are equally worried if the market condition is conducive for LIC – if it’s good for LIC it’s good for everybody else and if it’s got headwinds for LIC, it’s got headwinds for the rest as well. There is buzz in the market, a lot of interest in the market, and I’m glad in the way it (DRHP) has been crafted in that shareholders also have a role to play, and we’ll be going ahead with it (the IPO).”
On the recent Sebi order accusing the former NSE management led by Chitra Ramkrishna and questioning whether its penalty on those responsible for corporate governance lapses was adequate, Sitharaman said she couldn’t proffer her view on the merits or demerits of the order, but was looking into the matter. “I have no view this way or that way, till I really get to the bottom of what is available. I am looking into it but I won’t be able to comment on it at the moment,” she said.
Addressing queries on the impact of rising crude prices and whether the government could consider some tax relief on fuels, she said crude oil featured as one of the aspects that could impact financial stability in an FSDC meeting she chaired Tuesday amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine tensions, both of which she termed “headwinds”.