LIC to invest Rs 1 lakh crore in stock market

State-run life insurance major LIC on Thursday said it will invest Rs 1 lakh crore (Rs 1 trillion) in the equity market in the current fiscal, up from Rs 35,000 crore (Rs 350 billion) during 2008-09.

"We have already invested Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) in the stock market in the first four months of the current fiscal and by March 2010 the company would invest Rs 1 lakh crore (Rs 1 trillion) in the stock market," LIC zonal manager (north) Vinay Kumar Sinha told reporters.

LIC had invested about Rs 35,000 crore (Rs 350 billion) in equity market during 2008-09, he said.

Such a large investment by the country's biggest domestic financial institution will boost the sentiments at bourses, which witnessed volatility, especially after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in America last year.

Having crossed the 21,000 points mark in January 2008, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index (Sensex) nosedived to around 8,000 points last year itself.

The Sensex on Thursday closed at 15,398 points.