LIC

Yogakshema', this is the head office of Life Insurance Corporation of India, India's largest insurance company. From outside the LIC might look like a modest Insurance company, but LIC is much much bigger. LIC total assets are more than Apple, General Electric and even ExxonMobil. To understand the journey of LIC, let turn back time to 1818, and reach the city of joy, Kolkata. That year the first life insurance company on India soil, Oriental Life Insurance was established. The company catered mainly to the European community, with Indians compelled to pay a higher rate. Later many smaller insurance companies started cropping up all over India. Time went by and in 1947, India finally gained its Independence. At midnight in this parliament building, the new India began its Tryst with Destiny. 9 Years later, in the same parliament, between all the energetic discussions & debates, the government took a major decision. Life Insurance of India Act was passed, which nationalized the life insurance business in India. In the next 3 months, over 200 private life insurers were merged to form a new government owned entity called, Life Insurance Corporation of India. LIC started with a capital of only $10 Million, but now 6 decades later LIC's total assets have leapfrogged to over $440 billion. Which is higher than the GDP of around 75%of the countries in the world and also all the mutual funds in India, combined. Moreover, LIC has such a massive customer base that if all LIC customers were one country that would have been the 4th largest country in the world. So without any further delay, let's sit back and witness, the massive business empire of LIC. We will first travel to the vibrant Kenya& reach the capital city of Nairobi. Here we will find Ken India house, the head office of the largest non-life insurer in Kenya, which is partly owned by LIC. Moving to the scenic Mauritius, we will reach LIC Centre at Port Louis. Here in Mauritius, LIC has been operating from the past 6 decades and was also the first life insurer in the secluded Rodrigues Island. From the beaches of Mauritius, let's move to desert sands of Bahrain. LIC International is one of the leading life insurance company in Bahrain. Moreover, this jointly owned company is also popular in nearby UAE, Kuwait and Oman. Furthermore, LIC also operates in Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Singapore United Kingdom and is also one of the leading life insurer in the island nation of Fiji. From the alluring Fiji, it’s time to finally reach India. Here, other than, the life insurance business, LIC also owns one of India's largest housing finance company, a mutual fund, a pension fund, offers credit cards and also owns a majority stake in industrial development bank, IDBI. LIC is so huge, that it employees over a million agents and pays over $2.5 billion, just in commissions, every year.

Not only that, LIC is also India's biggest institutional investor and holds significant minority stakes in a mammoth list of companies. In this video, we will look at, just a few of those companies. To understand LIC's investment portfolio, let’s take a long walk on a sunny day. After walking few steps, at the corner we will find a bank. Talking about banks, LIC holds over 9% stake in ICICI, Axis Bank and also India's largest bank, State Bank of India. Furthermore, LIC also holds significant minority stake in Yes Bank, Punjab And Sindh Bank, PNB, Union Bank of India and Canara Bank. After walking few more steps, we will find sky soaring buildings, all around us. These are the modern marvels of steel and concrete. Talking about steel, LIC owns around 9% stake in Tata Steel and Steel Authority of India. And in case of Cement, LIC has minority holdings in ACC, Ambuja Cements & also India biggest cement company, Ultra Tech Cement. Moreover, as we are now talking about construction, LIC is also the largest shareholder of India's biggest construction company, L&T. enough of walking, now let's drive a car. We have two options, we can choose India’s biggest car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki or India's leading SUV manufacturer, Mahindra& Mahindra. By the way, Mahindra & Mahindra is also the highest-selling tractor brand in the world. Whichever brand we choose, LIC owns over5% stake in both these companies. But what if instead of a car, we want to ride a motorbike. In that case too, LIC owns significant stake in Bajaj Auto, TVS and also the world's biggest two-wheeler manufacturer, Hero MotoCorp. Now as we are driving our motorcycle towards the setting sun, What if we run out of fuel? Talking about fuel, LIC owns minority stake in major oil marketing companies that include ONGC, BPCL, GAIL, and Castrol India and also India’s largest commercial oil company Indian Oil. Now we have reached a grand hotel, ITC Maratha owned by the ITC group. ITC operates over 100 luxury hotels across India, is Asia's largest cigarette manufacturer, owns major personal care brands like Fiama, Vivel, and Savlon & is also one of India's biggest seller of branded foods. The second-biggest shareholder of this mammothITC Group is, LIC. From ITC now let’s talk about IT, Information Technology. LIC also owns over 4% stake in Infosys, Wipro, and also India's biggest IT Company, TCS, which is valued at around $100 billion in market cap. Now let's stop for a while and watch the setting sun, as the day slowly fades away. Let's make a quick phone call. The mobile network we are using is JIO, the third-largest mobile network in the world. Jio is owned by Reliance Industries, the largest publicly traded company in India, which also operates the largest crude oil refinery in the world. And yes, LIC also holds around 6% stake in Reliance Industries. Now if we look at the sky, we might locate the light combat aircraft Tejas, manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics. Around 7% shares of Hindustan Aeronautics are owned by LIC. Moreover, LIC also owns around 10% stake in India’s largest power generation equipment manufacturer, BHEL. Now finally, it’s time to reach our last stop. We are now outside the National stock exchange, the place where fortunes of big companies change daily. The companies which are traded on NSE include the telecommunications service provider, MTNL; one of India's leading biscuit company, Britannia Industries; India's biggest footwear manufacturer, Bata India; India's largest private multi-port operator, Adani Ports, and also the world's largest producer of viscose rayon fibre, Grasim Industries. So what is common between all these companies? Yes, LIC holds a substantial minority stake in all of them. Not only that, LIC also has over 12% stake in the National Stock Exchange itself. But still, all these investments form a small portion of LIC total assets. As LIC is also the biggest investor in Indian Government bonds. The money from these Government bonds are used to fund various national expenses & projects. Moreover, LIC also provides funding to India Railways, operates a community development foundation and has also recently donated over Rs. 100 crores, to the PM Cares Fund. Looking closely at this 6 decade old company, one realises, how LIC is impacting almost every part of the Indian economy. So in the end, all I can say, this is LIC'smassive Business Empire.