India pushing to get LIC IPO done on time: FM Sitharaman

Finance Minister announced plans to sell shares in the insurer in February 2020, but pandemic slowed the process

The government is pushing to get the initial public offering of state-backed Life Insurance Corp. of India across the line by next March and any delay won’t be due to a lack of political will, according to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

“We are pushing to have it done,” Sitharaman said in an interview with Bloomberg when asked if it will manage to complete within the current financial year. “The problem is not that we don’t want it or we are pussyfooting on it now, it is more a question of doing the due process.” 

The internal valuation that’s needed “almost