India govt open to selling stake in GIC Re, LIC in FY24/25, says source

By Nikunj Ohri

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Indian government is open to a minority stake sale in General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) in financial year 2024/25 after assessing investor appetite, a government source told Reuters on Friday.

“The government has received good feedback in investor roadshows for GIC, and is open to sell its 10% stake in tranches depending on its shares' value,” the official said.

The sale of 10% stake in GIC would be done over a period of time, the official said, garnering about 57 billion rupees ($683 million), as per the closing price on Friday. India's fiscal year runs April through March.

Shares of GIC have risen about 45% in the last six months.

For LIC, the government plans to stick to its target of offloading 10% stake over 7 years and 25% over 10 years since the listing in 2022, the source said.

However, LIC stakes would be sold in "small" tranches depending on the insurer’s stock performance and gauging investor appetite, the source said.

Shares of country's largest insurer have jumped 58% in the last six months and closed at 973 rupees on Friday.

In LIC's IPO, the government had sold 3.5% stake in the company, and had planned to offload another 1.5% for the insurer’s inclusion in index funds.

"Any stake sale in LIC will be done in small tranches considering the large size of the offer," the official said.

A sale of 1.5% stake in LIC can help the government garner about 92 billion rupees, as per stock’s closing price on Friday.

An email sent to India's finance ministry did not elicit an immediate response.

($1 = 83.4480 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nikunj Ohri; Editing by Ros Russell and Mrigank Dhaniwala)