Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) on Tuesday issued its clarification over a news report titled "LIC looking to enter health insurance business". In this regard, LIC said, "We hereby clarify that Life Insurance Corporation of India (the Corporation) is in advanced talks with a standalone health insurance company to acquire a substantial stake, to broaden the Corporation's footprint in the health insurance market. Kindly note that the Corporation is still in advanced talks and no binding agreement has been entered into."
"The execution and ultimate consummation of the deal is subject to various factors, including approval of the Board of Directors of the Corporation, regulatory approvals and other approvals, if any, before executing any binding agreements. There can be no guarantee or assurance of the execution/ consummation of the potential deal. The Corporation will make appropriate disclosure in compliance with applicable laws, as and when required," the country's largest insurance PSU also said. As of December 2024, the government held a 96.50 per cent stake in LIC.
The explanation from the state-run insurer came post-market hours today. Earlier in the day, LIC shares rose 1.70 per cent to settle at Rs 757.65. Despite the mentioned climb, the stock has slipped 15.48 per cent on a year-to-date (YTD) basis.
Around 47,000 shares changed hands today on BSE. This figure was lower than the two-week average volume of 60,000 shares. Turnover on the counter came at Rs 3.53 crore, commanding a market capitalisation (m-cap) of Rs 4,79,213.45 crore.
Technically, the counter traded higher than the 5-day, 10-day and 20-day simple moving averages (SMAs) but lower than the 30-day, 50-, 100-, 150-day and 200-day SMAs. The 14-day relative strength index (RSI) came at 44.95. A level below 30 is defined as oversold while a value above 70 is considered overbought.
The company's stock has an adjusted price-to-equity (P/E) ratio of 10.95 and earnings per share (EPS) stood at 17.48. According to Trendlyne data, LIC has a one-year beta of 1.3, indicating high volatility.