The Congress on Tuesday alleged that the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is being compelled to use its policyholders’ funds to bail out the Adani group while stressing the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani-Hindenburg issue.
In a statement, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that LIC holding in Adani Enterprises, one of the listed companies of the Adani Group, had increased over the years. And the momentum did not subside even after the Hindenburg revelations.
“At the end of June 2021, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) had a 1.32 per cent holding in Adani Enterprises one of the listed companies of the Adani Group. Within a space of 18 months, by the end of December 2022, LIC’s holding in Adani Enterprises had reached 4.23 per cent,” Ramesh said.
He said serious questions began to be raised about the Adani Group on January 24, 2023. Since then, new revelations about the group are emerging every day.
“Now it turns out that LIC’s holding in Adani Enterprises had further increased to 4.26 per cent by the end of March 2023. This increase took place at a time when the market value of Adani Enterprises’ stock had fallen by almost 60 per cent. LIC bought as many as 3.75 lakh shares in Adani Enterprises during the January-March 2023 quarter,” he said.
“Very clearly, LIC is being forced to use its policyholders’ funds to bail out the PM’s favourite business group which is under siege. This makes the constitution of a JPC all the more essential and urgent,” Ramesh added.
The LIC had, on January 30, said that it has an exposure of ₹36,474.78 crore to Adani group’s debt and equity and the amount is less than one per cent of the national insurer’s total investments. LIC’s total assets under management stood at over ₹41.66 lakh crore as of September, 2022.