The chairman of LIC has said that India’s biggest insurer is more confident of its business prospects with the country’s second-largest conglomerate, Adani Group, after a meeting with the conglomerate’s investment executives.
Mr MR Kumar said that in an interview with CNBC-TV18. “We have had a meeting, and we are quite happy about this meeting,” Hindu Business Line reported citing Mr Kumar who was asked whether LIC was more confident now than a month ago about the business prospects of the Adani Group.
LIC’s exposure to the Adani Group has come under scrutiny since 24 January 2023 when the US-based short seller Hindenburg Research accused the Gautam Adani-led group of stock manipulation, running offshore shell companies for round-tripping, and accounting fraud. Adani Group denied the allegations.
LIC says that its total holdings of Adani stocks accounted for less than 1% of its total equity portfolio as of end-December 2022.
The giant life insurer had invested in seven of 10 listed companies of the Adani Group. The shares in these companies plunged in value on a massive selloff of Adani stocks, which also dented LIC share prices. However, the share prices of Adani stocks and LIC have recovered a little in recent days.
Meanwhile, India’s Supreme Court has ordered an expert committee to investigate any regulatory failures related to the Adani Group, reported Associated Press.
The expert committee will submit its findings within two months to the top court that also directed the Securities and Exchange Board of India to investigate whether there had been a violation of rules or manipulation of stock prices by the Adani Group.
