LIC OFS Opens For Retail Investors Today: Here's How You Can Apply

Retail investors can start bidding for the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) Offer for Sale (OFS) from Wednesday, 5 August, after the institutional portion attracted strong demand on the first day.

The government's offer to institutional investors on Tuesday was subscribed 3.32 times the base issue size. Following the robust response, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) confirmed that it will exercise the entire greenshoe option, allowing the government to sell a larger stake than initially planned.

The Centre is looking to offload up to 6.5% of its holding in LIC through the OFS. The issue consists of a 2.5% base offer along with a 4% greenshoe option. If the full 6.5% stake is sold, the government could raise nearly ₹31,000 crore, pushing its total disinvestment receipts through the OFS route beyond ₹50,000 crore in the current financial year.

The LIC OFS floor price has been fixed at ₹382 per share.

How Retail Investors Can Apply For LIC OFS

The process to apply for an OFS is similar to that of an IPO. Here are the steps:

• Go to your trading app or web platform.

• Navigate to the IPO, OFS, or Corporate Actions section.

• Select the active LIC OFS from the list.

• Enter the number of shares you wish to bid for and choose your bidding price.

• Review the details and submit your application.

Investors should ensure they have sufficient funds in their linked bank account before placing the bid. Applications may be rejected if the required funds are unavailable or if the bid price is lower than the applicable cut-off price. For the institutional portion of the LIC OFS, the clearing price was discovered at ₹383.10 per share.

Government Stake To Reduce After OFS

If the entire offer is successfully subscribed, the government's shareholding in LIC will decline to 90%.

As of the end of the June quarter, LIC had around 21 lakh small retail shareholders, defined as investors holding shares worth up to ₹2 lakh. Together, they own approximately 1.5% of the insurer's equity.

On 5 August, at 11:31 AM, LIC shares were trading at ₹391.85, up by 0.14% on an intraday basis.

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