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The All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA) has strongly opposed the proposal in the Union Budget to list the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) in the stock market.

While presenting the Budget, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the the government would sell part of its stake via a public offering. Insurance officials said this move was against the national interests. Insurance employees will go for one-hour walkout preceding the lunch recess on February 4, AIIEA president V. Ramesh said.

He said the domestic savings of LIC policyholders is utilised for developmental activities. The contribution of LIC to the five-year plans and investments in social sector to the tune of more than 80 per cent for the last 68 years will receive a great setback.

The LIC is growing faster than the GDP. The last six months of this financial year have been particularly phenomenal for its growth, he said. It has a share of over 73 per cent in the insurance market. The claim settlement record is also exemplary, he stated.

At a time when the government is facing a severe resource crunch because of dwindling tax collections, disinvestment of LIC would amount to squandering away precious resources for the benefit of the corporate houses. It has recently paid a dividend of

`2,611 crore to the government against an initial equity of

`100 crore.

The LIC also has the distinction of contributing more than

25 per cent to the total budgetary efforts of the Union government. Selling part of LIC’s stake to private interests and its disinvestment would be a surest blow to the resource mobilisation efforts, AIIEA general secretary Shreekanta Mishra said.