Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) chairman D K Mehrotra on Monday said the company would buy stakes in public sector units (PSUs) going for part-disinvestment if it found good value in doing so.
"Ours are commercial decisions. We will look into them (PSUs) if there is an opportunity. We have not been approached by anybody," he said in response to a question on possible investment by LIC in these companies.
LIC has kept about Rs 45,000 crore (Rs 450 billion) for corporate investment out of about Rs 2.1 lakh crore (Rs 2.1 trillion) of total investment it has readied for the current year, said Mehrotra.
Corporate investment cap
Speaking on the sidelines of an All India LIC Games event, he said he was hopeful of a positive decision very soon on relaxation of the corporate investment limit in a single firm from the present 10 per cent cap.
As a long-term investor, he said, LIC would be comfortable with an investment ceiling of about 25 per cent in an individual company.
"Looking forward to the next 15 years, anything between a 22 and 25 per cent ceiling would be comfortable. It is not something which will be exhausted in the next two to three years. It (the present limit) doesn't make sense," he said.
LIC says the existing ceiling restricts it from tapping the full potential of a good equity investment opportunity but the insurance regulator sees a risk in concentrating such a high percentage in a single company.
Growth prospects
To a question on the growth prospects in the business, Mehrotra said he would expect to see a 10
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