‘Common man’s savings at risk’: AIMIM’s Owaisi on LIC’s investments in Adani stocks turning negative
Life Insurance Corporation of India became ripe material for criticism on social media on Thursday as the state-owned insurer’s investments in Adani Group firms’ stocks have turned negative.
AIMIM chief and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said the insurer is “putting common man’s savings at risk for the sake of one man’s friendship”.
“‘Poora kuppa kar diye’ as we say in Hyderabad. LIC is putting common man’s savings at risk; all for the sake of one man’s friendship. @PMOIndia’s motto seems to be ‘profit before people’,” tweeted Owaisi while referring to Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani’s alleged close ties with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi too slammed LIC for investing in Adani Group companies and wondered if Ministry of Finance will “continue to let LIC face losses”.
“Yes please keep helping the group till investors hard earned money is not made dust. Shame on LIC for continuing to support this manipulation and bigger shame on GOI for shamelessly standing by as investors bleed. Where is the fresh press release from @LICIndiaForever on the status of their holding in the Adani Group, hello @SEBI_India is this still all clear for you? Will @FinMinIndia continue to let LIC face losses to save GoI face?” tweeted Chaturvedi.
LIC has witnessed an enormous notional loss of Rs 49,728 crore on its investments in the Adani Group stocks. The combined market value of LIC’s investments in seven Adani stocks namely Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Adani Total Gas, Adani Transmission, Ambuja Cements and ACC plunged to Rs 33,242 crore as on February 23 from Rs 82,970 crore as on December 31, 2022.
Shares of 10-listed Adani group companies took a hit after the US short-seller Hindenburg Research on January 24, 2023 made serious allegations including accounting fraud and stock manipulations on the Adani group.
Earlier on January 30, the insurance behemoth, in a regulatory filing, said that the market value of its holding in the Adani Group companies stood at Rs 56,142 crore on January 27 against the total purchase value of equity of Rs 30,127 crore. The total amount invested under the Adani group amounted to Rs 36,474.78 crore as on January 30. Overall, the combined market capitalisation of Adani group has declined by more than Rs 12 lakh crore in the ongoing calendar year till date.
