RIYADH: The long-awaited initial public offering of India’s largest life insurance group has got regulators taking big steps to ensure it lands a blockbuster debut, Bloomberg reported.
Life Insurance Corp., known as LIC, is expected to raise between 400 billion rupees ($5.4 billion) and 1 trillion rupees in what could be India’s biggest-ever IPO.
The Indian government plans to use proceeds from the offering to reach a budget deficit target.
Steps taken to achieve this include plans to ease foreign direct investment regulations to attract international investors and imposing stricter rules on share sales by anchor investors.
Additionally, LIC has been bombarding social media, through newspaper ads, as well as sending out phone messages, aiming to brace customers and policymakers for its mega IPO.
All these measures are to pave the way for the Mumbai-based insurer’s offering and guarantee its contribution to the government’s economic agenda.
India’s IPO market has seen a boom last year, with over 110 companies raising approximately $18 billion, four times the value raised in 2020, according to Bloomberg.