Life Insurance Corporation
The Life Insurance Corporation of India is an Indian public sector life insurance company headquartered in Mumbai. It is India's largest insurance company and its largest institutional investor with total assets under management worth as of March 2025. It is under the ownership of Government of India and administrative control of the Ministry of Finance.
The Life Insurance Corporation of India was established on 1 September 1956, when the Parliament of India passed the Life Insurance of India Act, nationalising the insurance industry in India. Over 245 insurance companies and provident societies were merged.
LIC reported 290 million policyholders as of 2019, a total life fund of. The company also reported having settled 26 million claims in 2018–19. It ranked 98th on the 2022 Fortune Global 500 list with a revenue of and a profit of.
History
Founding organisations
The Oriental Life Insurance Company, the first company in India to offer life insurance coverage, was established in Kolkata in 1818 by Bipin Das Gupta. Its primary target market was India.Surendranath Tagore had founded Hindustan Insurance Society around the same time, which later became the Life Insurance Corporation.
The Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society was formed in 1870, almost half a century later. It was the first native insurance provider of Western India. Other insurance companies established in the pre-independence era include:
- Postal Life Insurance was introduced on 1 February 1884
- Bharat Insurance Company
- United India
- National Indian
- National Insurance
- Co-operative Assurance
- Hindustan Co-operatives
- The New India Assurance Co Ltd
- Indian Mercantile
- General Assurance
- Swadeshi Life
- Sahyadri Insurance
Nationalisation in 1956
In 1956, parliamentarian Feroze Gandhi raised the matter of insurance fraud via owners of private insurance agencies. In the ensuing investigations, one of India's wealthiest businessmen, Times of India owner Seth Ramkrishna Dalmia, was sent to prison for two years.Initial public offering
announced a proposal for an initial public offering for the Life Insurance Corporation of India in the 2021 Union budget of India. The IPO was expected to occur in 2022, and the Government of India planned to remain the majority shareholder post-listing, with 10% of shares proposed to be allotted to existing LIC policyholders. In 2021, the Indian government also proposed to enhance LIC's authorised capital to to facilitate its public listing.The LIC IPO opened to the public on 4 May 2022, and concluded on 9 May 2022. The Government of India aimed to raise ₹21,000 crore through the IPO, which was significantly lower than the initially expected ₹65,000 to ₹70,000 crore by diluting a 5% equity stake. Instead, the IPO offered a 3.5% stake, valuing the company at approximately ₹6 lakh crore.
Since the IPO, LIC's market value has seen substantial growth. As of 2024, LIC's shares have reached record highs, with the company's market value increasing by $30 billion over two years.
As of December 2024, LIC’s listed holdings were valued at approximately $177 billion. By February 18, 2025, they declined to $166.5 billion, reflecting a 5.7% mark-to-market loss of $10.1 billion.