LIC shares reach a new low, investors lose Rs 1.64 lakh crore

New Delhi: The 30-day lock-in period for anchor investors ends today, and shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) reached a new record low of Rs 682 in opening trades on the BSE. In the first few minutes of trading, the LIC shares dropped 4%. It fell for the tenth trading day in a row, dropping 19% since the beginning of the year. Since its IPO, LIC's market capitalization has dropped by Rs 1.2 lakh crore.

Anchor investors, who bought approximately 59.3 million shares a day before the IPO opened for subscription at Rs 949 each, will be able to sell their shares on the open market starting Monday. Anchor investors are high-profile institutional investors who are given shares before retail and other investors can buy them and must promise to keep them for a set amount of time after the company is listed. Read More: Investor wealth tumbles over Rs 5.47 lakh crore in early trade

The anchor book's subscribers included the Norwegian wealth fund Norges Bank Investment Management and the Singapore government. Domestic mutual fund firms including HDFC Mutual Fund, SBI, ICICI, and Kotak joined in as anchor investors who subscribed to the LIC IPO with other global funds. Read More: HDFC Bank alerts customers against PAN card frauds: Details here

Since its initial public offering on the stock exchange on May 17, 2022, the LIC share price has plummeted. Investors were given LIC shares for Rs 949 each, and they were placed on stock exchanges at a discount. The stock is down roughly 28% from its initial public offering (IPO) price of Rs 949.

The government expressed its "worry" about the temporary drop in the stock price of the insurance behemoth on Friday, promising that the insurer's management will look into these issues and increase shareholder value.