The Indian government is selling up to a 6.5% stake in Life Insurance Corporation of India at a 10% discount to its Monday closing price, as part of the LIC India stake sale aimed at meeting regulatory requirements, according to CNBC. The offer is expected to raise up to 314 billion rupees ($3.3 billion) for the government.
According to a stock exchange filing by LIC cited by CNBC, the offer consists of a base size of a 2.5% stake with an option to sell an additional 4% in the country’s largest insurance company. The LIC stake sale 2026 is priced at 382 rupees per share and will open on Tuesday, closing on Wednesday.
The Indian government currently owns a 96.5% stake in LIC, which it must reduce to 75% by 2032 to comply with minimum public shareholding requirements, CNBC reported. This India government stake sale represents a step toward meeting that regulatory threshold.
Life Insurance Corporation of India holds more than 56% market share based on premium income, making it the country’s leading life insurer, according to CNBC. As of the end of March 2026, the company had assets under management of 57.29 trillion rupees, or approximately $600 billion.
The government previously sold a 3.5% stake in LIC during its initial public offering in 2022, a transaction that ranked among the largest share issues in Indian markets at the time and raised more than $2.7 billion, CNBC reported. On a year-to-date basis, LIC shares are down about 0.5%, while India’s benchmark Nifty 50 index has fallen 5.25% over the same period.
Earlier this year, the government also sold stakes in several other state-owned companies, including Cochin Shipyard, Indian Railways Finance Corporation, NHPC and Coal India, raising a combined 210 billion rupees ($2.2 billion), according to data from India’s Ministry of Finance cited by CNBC. Most of these stake sales, including the current LIC share sale, were priced at a discount to improve absorption of large share volumes and support successful disinvestment.
The stake sale is part of India’s broader India disinvestment strategy aimed at increasing public shareholding and complying with market regulations, meeting LIC public shareholding requirements. The move comes as major corporations across the region continue to report significant business developments, including Toyota’s recently reported global sales figures for 2026.
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