at
Chennai, was the tallest building in India when it was inaugurated in 1959
Founding organisations The Oriental Life Insurance Company, the first company in India to offer life insurance coverage, was established in
Kolkata in 1818 by Bipin Das Gupta. Its primary target market was India.
Surendranath Tagore had founded Hindustan Insurance Society around the same time, which later became the Life Insurance Corporation. The Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society was formed in 1870, almost half a century later. It was the first native insurance provider of Western India. Other insurance companies established in the pre-independence era include: • Postal Life Insurance (PLI) was introduced on 1 February 1884 • Bharat Insurance Company (1896) •
United India (1906) • National Indian (1906) •
National Insurance (1906) • Co-operative Assurance (1906) • Hindustan Co-operatives (1907) • The New India Assurance Co Ltd (1919) • Indian Mercantile • General Assurance • Swadeshi Life (later Bombay Life) • Sahyadri Insurance (Merged into LIC, 1986) These companies were established when India was marked mostly by turbulent economic and political conditions including the
Indian rebellion of 1857,
World War I and
World War II. The effect of these events led to a high liquidation rate of life insurance companies in India and adversely affected the faith of the general public in the value of obtaining life insurance.
Nationalisation in 1956 In 1956, parliamentarian
Feroze Gandhi raised the matter of insurance fraud via owners of private insurance agencies. In the ensuing investigations, one of India's wealthiest businessmen,
Times of India owner Seth Ramkrishna Dalmia, was sent to prison for two years.
Initial public offering Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a proposal for an
initial public offering (IPO) for the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) in the
2021 Union budget of India. The IPO was expected to occur in 2022, and the Government of India planned to remain the majority shareholder post-listing, with 10% of shares proposed to be allotted to existing LIC policyholders. In 2021, the Indian government also proposed to enhance LIC's authorised capital to to facilitate its public listing. The LIC IPO opened to the public on 4 May 2022, and concluded on 9 May 2022. The Government of India aimed to raise ₹21,000 crore through the IPO, which was significantly lower than the initially expected ₹65,000 to ₹70,000 crore by diluting a 5% equity stake. Instead, the IPO offered a 3.5% stake, valuing the company at approximately ₹6 lakh crore. Since the IPO, LIC's market value has seen substantial growth. As of 2024, LIC's shares have reached record highs, with the company's market value increasing by $30 billion over two years. As of December 2024, LIC’s listed holdings were valued at approximately $177 billion. By February 18, 2025, they declined to $166.5 billion, reflecting a 5.7% mark-to-market loss of $10.1 billion. ==Structure==