LIC IPO News: Check latest development from Irdai

Amid big buzz over LIC IPO, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI)  chairman S C Khuntia on Tuesday said that no proposal has been received from the insurer on an initial public offering. "LIC proposal has not yet come". Khuntia said, as per a report in PTI, "Any company which goes public there will be better corporate governance and better disclosure."

On being asked if LIC's business will need any restructuring before IPO, Khuntia said that work on the same is being carried out by the government. He said it is a good idea for every insurance company to list and the Irdai will nudge entities to go for the same.

It is, however, not making it mandatory to list because smaller companies are yet to achieve the scale for going public, Khuntia said, adding that ideally a company should achieve sufficient scale to list within ten years of its existence.

He said the practice of annual product review needs to be carried out in full seriousness by the players and pitched for a weeding out of the loss making ones.

"I would like to encourage companies to weed out products which are not selling and simply adding to the number, then they will be able to manage those products well," he said.

When pointed out about practices where industry players are compromising on financials in the health insurance segment while signing on to group schemes, Khuntia said the Irdai wants players to be sustainable, where they don't create losses nor do they earn excess profits. He, however, said that Irdai will not intervene on the pricing front but will limit itself to pointing out concerns to the players and issue notices if necessary.