“The Ministry of Finance does not issue any advisory/direction to LIC in connection with matters related to investment of LIC fund.The investment decisions of the state-owned insurer, she said, are taken by “LIC alone following strict due diligence, risk assessment and fiduciary compliance” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha
New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said her ministry does not issue advisory or directions to Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) regarding its investment decisions, and emphasised that the investments that the state-owned insurer made in Adani Group were as per established SOPs.
India’s largest insurer has, over the years, made investment decisions across companies based on fundamentals and detailed due diligence. Following due diligence as per established standard operating procedures (SOPs), it has bought shares across half a dozen listed companies of Adani Group, whose book value stands at Rs 38,658.85 crore and invested another Rs 9,625.77 crore in debt instruments of the conglomerate.
“The Ministry of Finance does not issue any advisory/direction to LIC in connection with matters related to investment of LIC fund,” she said in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.
The investment decisions of the state-owned insurer, she said, are taken by “LIC alone following strict due diligence, risk assessment and fiduciary compliance”.
Such decisions are governed by the provisions of the Insurance Act, 1938, as well as regulations issued by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) (wherever applicable) from time to time, she said.
In October, a report in The Washington Post alleged that finance ministry officials orchestrated a plan to steer LIC into investing in the Adani group earlier this year, when the ports-to-energy conglomerate was facing a debt pile and scrutiny in the US.
The report highlighted LIC’s May 2025 investment of USD 570 million (around Rs 5,000 crore) in Adani Ports & SEZ (APSEZ).
The Finance Minister also tabled company-wise details of LIC’s holding in Adani Group companies, which add up to Rs 38,658.85 crore as on Sept 30, 2025. This includes investments in newly acquired ACC Ltd and Ambuja Cements.
Sitharaman said, “LIC has invested Rs 5,000 crore in secured non-convertible debentures (NCD) issued by Adani Ports Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) in May 2025, after doing due diligence following established Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) as per their Board-approved policies.”
She went on to state that LIC has invested in the top 500 companies listed on NSE and BSE, and a major portion of its investment currently is in the larger companies out of these.
“Book value of LIC’s investment in Nifty 50 companies, as on September 30, 2025, is Rs 4,30,776.97 crore which is 45.85 per cent of its total equity investment,” she said.
Detailing checks-and-balances that have been put in place, she said the investment functions of LIC are verified by concurrent auditors, statutory auditors, system auditors, internal financial control (IFC) auditors and internal vigilance team.
The LIC’s investment in the equity of Reliance Industries totals Rs 40,901.38 crore, which is the highest among private sector companies. This is followed by Infosys Ltd, in which the LIC has an investment of 38,846.33 crore. Tata Consultancy with Rs 31,926.89 crore, HDFC Bank (Rs 31,664.69 crore), and Hindustan Unilever Ltd (Rs 30,133.49 crore) are the other top blue-chip private sector companies in which the LIC has invested, according to the data.
Similarly, the LIC has also invested in the equity of leading public sector companies across all sectors. These include the SBI, Coal India Ltd, ONGC, Punjab National Bank, and General Insurance Corporation of India.