Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the impending merger of three State-owned insurance companies - National Insurance, United India and Oriental Insurance - with a plan to list them on the stock market.The trio however, are no match for the brute numbers of LIC - which, at a conservative estimate, will be 20 times the combined value of the three companies.
With nearly Rs 30 lakh crore in assets under management (AUM), LIC is more than 90 times bigger than the combined AUM of National Insurance, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance.
In terms of reach too, the combined might of the three general insurance companies falls short by two third when pitted against the reach of LIC.
With more than Rs 3 lakh crore as premium collected in 2016-17, LIC earned 10 times the combined premium earned by the soon-to-be merged and listed three non-life insurance companies.
If its equity investments are taken out of the equation, LIC's net profit is lower than some of the smaller sized companies.