LIC's mega IPO delayed to FY23? Here's all you need to know

The much-awaited initial public offer (IPO) of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is likely to be delayed into the next fiscal year due to high market volatility arising out of Russia's attack on Ukraine. The biggest IPO of Indian bourses was set to be launched in March 2022.

Sensex has lost 2,414 points or 4.21 per cent and Nifty has declined 684 points or 4 percent since February 24 when Russia started military operations on its neighbour Ukraine.

A spike in the price of brent crude due to economic sanctions on Russia-world's major oil producer- has impacted the recovery of global economy and inflicted losses on stock markets across the world.

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Brent crude oil price, which stood at $96.84 barrel on February 23, a day before the Russian attack, nearly touched $120 per barrel yesterday. The price hit an intraday high of $119.84 a barrel on March 3.

The IPO could be held in April if market volatility subsides, reports said. However, there is no official announcement yet on the postponement of the share sale.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has already indicated review of the LIC's IPO launch date in view of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

"Ideally, I would like to go ahead with it because we had planned it for some time based purely on Indian considerations," Sitharaman had said in an interview with the Hindu Business Line. "But if global considerations warrant that I need to look at it, I would not mind looking at it again," she said.

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The central government may defer the mega IPO of the country's national insurer and wait for an opportune time to get the maximum value of its holding in the state-owned insurance behemoth, PTI reported.

"It's a full-blown war now. So, we will have to assess the situation for going ahead with the LIC IPO," a government source told PTI.