LIC's market value rises to Rs 56,142 crore

The country's biggest institutional investor, Life Insurance Corporation of India LIC, said on January 27 that the market value of its holdings in the Adani Group'sAdani Group's companies stood at Rs 56,142 crore on January 27, 2023 against the total purchase value of equity of Rs 30,127 crore. The insurance giant has made huge money in the Adani group of stocks despite the recent selloff since January 25, 2022, according to these figures. LIC's total holding under equity and debt of the Adani group was Rs 35,917. As of December 31, 2022, 31 crore were on December 31st, 2022.

LIC stated in a regulatory filing that these investments have been made over a period of time. In a release, LIC said that the credit rating of all Adani debt securities held by LIC is AA and above, which is in compliance with the IRDAI investment regulations as applicable to all Life Insurance companies.

The shares of Adani Group came under pressure after a report from US short seller Hindenburg Research claimed that the Indian conglomerate had engaged in stock manipulation and accounting fraud over the course of the last few decades.

Data available with Ace Equity shows that LIC held a 1 per cent stake in companies like Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Adani Ports, Adani Total Gas, Adani Transmission, Ambuja Cements and ACC. Between January 24 and January 27th, the shares of these companies fell somewhere between 19 per cent and 27 per cent.

According to a media statement, Jugeshinder Singh, Group CFO, Adani said the report was a malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations that have been tested and rejected by India's highest courts. The total assets under management by LIC are over 41.66 lakh crore as of September 30, 2022. The insurance behemoth said that LIC exposure in the Adani group is 0.975 per cent of LIC's total AUM at book value.