Terming retail investors as a third superpower, Zee Business Managing Editor Anil Singhvi in his special edition of Editor’s Take said the retail investors together have proved their mettle in the initial public offer of Life Insurance Corporation of India, which concluded on Monday, May 9, 2022. 

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According to Singhvi, “Retail investors have turned out to be a big strength in the last two years.” Overall, 75 lakh applications were received in 6 days for LIC IPO – which is justifiable, he added.  

With certain discounts, incentives and assurance of good returns, retail investors together can contribute to major chunk to the LIC IPO, the managing editor said he somehow expected it. 

The policyholder and retail investors quotas have filled the LIC IPO as DIPAM (Department of Investment and Public Asset Management) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Monday said this issue has been predominantly lifted by domestic investors. 

“We have been reiterating LIC IPO will fill easily, with good response and taking around Rs 21000 crore from the Indian market is no big deal,” Singhvi said in his comment. LIC IPO is an example that the country is ready for the IPO of big and value companies, he added. 

The managing editor ahead of LIC IPO launch had suggested to apply in the offer for medium to long-term gains. In this regard, he said, “We should think of the long term more than short/medium.” 

The initial public offering of the country's largest insurer LIC closed on Monday, getting over-subscribed nearly 3 times. While the institutional investors' portion was subscribed 2.83 times, the retail investors' portion was subscribed 1.99 times. 

The portion reserved for policyholders and employees was subscribed 6.12 and 4.40 times, respectively, while the corporate portion was subscribed 2.91 times. 

The government sold a 3.5 per cent stake in LIC through the IPO at a price band of Rs 902-949 a share. The government expects to garner around Rs 20,000 crore from the share sale. 

Bidders in LIC IPO will be allocated shares on May 12, and the insurance behemoth shares will be listed on stock exchanges on May 17.