A large majority of clerical and support staff of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) in Karnataka participated in a protest against the insurer’s IPO which opened on Wednesday, said All India Insurance Employees’ Association (AIIEA).
The association here said a large majority of clerical and supporting staff in the State participated in the two-hour strike it called on Wednesday. Nationally, as high as 93% of Class III and Class IV employees have participated in the protest, it said.
“All eight divisions of LIC, each having an average of 15 branches, have participated in the protest against the IPO,’‘ said the spokesperson.
President of the association V. Ramesh said, “The desperation of the Government to sell shares of the LIC to mop up some resources for meeting the fiscal deficit is evident. This desperation is all the more evident from the fact that the Government has drastically brought down the valuation of LIC from the earlier estimates of around ₹15 lakh crore to ₹6 lakh crore.’‘
This was a serious breach of trust with the millions of policy holders and citizens of this country who have supported LIC for all these years, he further said adding, this was the most blatant effort to sell the valuable assets of the nation built by the sweat and toil of the workforce.
Mr. Ramesh further said AIIEA was of the opinion that IPO was the first step towards privatisation of LIC. The IPO would undermine the very foundational objectives of the insurer which was an inseparable part of the economy and national development in the last over 65 years.
“It is difficult to find any sector of the economy where the footprints of this great institution are not found,’‘ he elaborated.
Listing out apprehensions, AIIEA said, the IPO of LIC would be antithetical to the interests of millions of its policy holders who are the real owners of the LIC. Post listing, the business model of LIC is bound to change privileging the interests of the ‘shareholders’ over that of the ‘policy holders.’
The public offer may also have an adverse impact on the poor and downtrodden sections of the society who look upon a LIC policy as an instrument of social security, the association cautioned.
LIC currently has ₹39 lakh crore of assets under management. It has invested ₹36 lakh crore in the economy. Most of these investments are in Government securities, infrastructure projects and socially oriented schemes. LIC is the single largest investor in the equity market in India.
