LIC Chairperson MR Kumar
LIC Chairperson MR Kumar on Sunday said that the life insurance behemoth has met up with the Adani Group’s top management. LIC is more confident of its business prospects with the group, post its meeting, Kumar told CNBC-TV18.
Early last month, Kumar had said that LIC officials were planning to meet up with the Adani Group’s top management to seek clarification on the crisis it was facing post the US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research report.
LIC’s investment into the conglomerate’s stock had come under criticism by investors as well as political leaders after the Hindenburg allegations against the group.
After the news of the Hindenburg’s allegations, LIC CEO Siddhartha Mohanty had told CNBC-TV18 that the life insurance behemoth was positive on the Adani Stocks. “All investments are made in accordance with the company’s standard operating procedures (SOPs),” he said adding that the investments are within LIC’s prudent norms.
“All our investments are as per SOPs. We are a large player and I don’t think this will affect anything for LIC’s total investments. We are hopeful and positive on all our investments not just on one stock,” he had said.
Mohanty also noted that LIC regularly communicates with the companies it invests in, as a routine. He pointed out that earlier policies where the sum assured was more than 10 times the premium have been done away with.
The group’s market capitalisation more than halved from its peak and was no longer the $ 100 billion enterprise it once used to be, exactly a month after the allegations.
However, on Thursday, the Supreme Court ordered an expert panel and markets regulator SEBI to investigate the recent drop in Adani Group shares triggered by Hindenburg Research’s fraud allegations. Experts said the top court’s decision was a blessing to investors. Following the SC’s order most of the group’s stocks were trading in an upper circuit of 5 percent.