State-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) holds less than 1% stake in both equity and debt in the Adani Group, the government told Parliament on Tuesday.
Opposition parties have cornered the government over the exposure of the State Bank of India and LIC to the Adani Group. The group faced a rout of share prices of its listed firms after US-based short seller Hindenburg Research in January accused it of “brazen stock manipulation” and “accounting fraud” via “a vast labyrinth of offshore shell entities.”
Opposition parties have disrupted parliamentary proceedings demanding a probe into allegations.
In a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Union minister of state for finance Bhagwat Karad said the total purchase value of equity under the Adani Group companies was ₹30,127 crore. He added the market value for the same at the close of market hours on January 27 was ₹56,142 crores. “Further, the total Assets Under Management (AUM) by LIC are over Rs. 41.66 lakh crore as at 30.09.2022. Therefore, LIC’s exposure in the Adani group, as of date, is 0.975% of LIC’s total AUM at book value.”
Karad gave the information in response to Bharatiya Janata Party member Sushil Kumar Modi’s questions about LIC’s stake in the Adani Group.
Karad said LIC has confirmed that most of the information regarding its investments is available in the public domain. He was responding to a specific question on whether LIC has decreased its holdings in Adani Ports by 2% over the last three years
“…LIC has informed that all investments of LIC are carried out strictly as per the statutory framework of the Insurance Act, 1938 and the IRDA Investment Regulations, 2016 and are guided by a detailed governance mechanism,” said Karad.
Congress and some of its allies have demanded a parliamentary panel probe into the allegations against the Adani Group even as it has dismissed them. The group called Hindenburg‘s report an “attack on India and its independent institutions”.
The report led to a fall in the share prices of the Adani Group’s listed companies. It accused the conglomerate of improper use of tax havens and stock manipulation. The report raised concerns over the group’s high debt levels.
On February 1, Adani Group companies were hammered on the stock market. Its companies lost over 28% value in a single day. The company later abruptly decided to abandon its ₹20,000 crore follow-on public offering, the largest in India.