LIC IPO! Have you applied yet?

   Almost everyone in the stock markets today are talking about one of the most awaited IPO’s in India, the LIC (Life Insurance Corporation) IPO.

 

Why the hype? Well that’s because the LIC IPO is going to be the largest of the Indian primary markets, valuedat Rs 20,557 crore. The craze for the IPO is such that the retail bidders can even bid for the issue even on Sunday, which is not something that has happened before and done to attract more investors than ever.

As per the data from BSE, investors made bids for 27,65,90,685 equity shares or 1.1 times compared to the 16,20,78,067 equity shares offered for the subscription by 12 noon on Sunday, May 08. Further it stated that the quota for retailer investors, employees, policyholders and HNI investors were already fully subscribed. The policyholder’s quota was subscribed 4.8 times, employee's allocated quote was subscribed by 3.6 times. Surprisingly the quota for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) awaited full subscription, and was subscribed to the extent of 67% of the allocation.

 

The price band is in the range of 902-949 per sharehowever would be given a discount of Rs 60 per share to its policyholders. On the other hand eligible employees and retail bidders will get a discount of Rs 45 per share. The current pricing puts the value of LIC at over 6 lakh crores, making it a multibillion dollar corporation and also one of the most valued companies in India.

 

Why such valuation? Well as per data available the Assets Under Management (AUM) of LIC jumped about 10 per cent to Rs 37,46,404.47 at the end of financial year 2021 from Rs 34,14,174.57 crore in the previous year. The net profit of the company jumped to Rs 2,974.14 crore from Rs 2,710.48 crore making it one of the most profitable companies. In terms of scale of operations, LIC operates through 2048 branches, 113 divisional offices, and 1,554 Satellite Offices. It operates globally including in countries like Fiji, Mauritius, Bangladesh, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the united Kingdom.-

 

So all looks very interesting and if you haven’t already applied yet, then maybe you would like to try your hand. Considering the number of times it has been subscribed, it may be one of your lucky buys giving you decent returns.