Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country’s largest financial institution with a corpus of over Rs 31 lakh crore, has booked a profit of over Rs 14,000 crore from the stock market during the April 1-November 15 period of the current financial year.

The 30-share Sensex had gained 1,985 points, or 3.82 per cent, during the period under review, enabling the corporation to post good returns. The market value of LIC’s investment as of end-FY19 stood at around Rs 28.7 lakh crore, growing 8.6 per cent on a year-on-year basis

The insurer’s total assets had touched an all-time high of Rs 31 crore in FY19, an increase of 9.4 per cent. This is nearly 20 per cent of India’s stock market capitalisation, which currently stands at Rs 154 lakh crore. LIC — which started with an initial capital of Rs 5 crore in 1956 — began the 2019-20 fiscal year with an investible corpus of Rs 348,692 crore, that will be invested in capital market instruments like bonds, including government securities, corporate bonds and equities.

FY19 assets nearly a fifth of total stock market value Though LIC has invested in some high-priced PSU IPOs and played a big role in the government’s disinvestment programme, the market value of the state-owned insurer’s investment as of end-FY19 stood at around Rs 28.7 lakh crore, growing 8.6 per cent on a year-on-year basis. LIC’s total assets hit an all-time high of Rs 31 crore in FY19, a 9.4 per cent rise. This is almost 20 per cent of India’s stock market capitalisation, which is at present Rs 154 lakh crore.