LIC employees' union up in arms against IPO plan
Mumbai: Employees' union of LIC has strongly opposed the government's plan to sell a part of its holding in the country's largest financial institution through a public issue.
"The government proposes to sell a part of its holding in LIC through an initial public offer," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday while presenting the Budget for 2020-21.
Currently, the government fully owns LIC.
"LIC has always been the last resort for funding for other public sector entities. We strongly oppose the government's proposal to sell a portion of its holding in LIC," All-India Life Insurance Employees Federation General Secretary Rajesh Nimbalkar told PTI.
Further, he said the government's move is against the interest of the public because growth of LIC is the sheer outcome of the dedication and faith of policyholders and its agents.
Any dilution of the government's stake in LIC would shake faith of the policyholders in the institution.
Nimbalkar said though the government has not revealed the amount of stake it plan to sell, going by the past experience it seems a majority stake would be sold, resulting into LIC losing its public sector status.
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Rupee falls 4 paise to 90.24 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee opened weak and declined 4 paise to 90.24 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, as geopolitical uncertainties triggered by the US intervention in Venezuela fuelled the demand for the American currency.
According to forex traders, the rupee is expected to trade lower due to geopolitical development, even though a lower crude prices could provide some cushion.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.21 against the US dollar and lost further to trade at 90.24 against the greenback in early deals.
On Friday, the rupee settled lower by 22 paise at 90.20 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.36 per cent higher at 98.50.
The US on Saturday carried out a military operation in Venezuela an deposed President Nicolas Maduro. President Donald Trump said the US would "run" the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.07 per cent lower at USD 60.70 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex declined 135.81 points to 85,626.20 in early trade, while the Nifty was down 25.75 points to 26,302.80.
Foreign institutional investors turned net buyers, picking up equities worth Rs 289.80 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
The latest RBI data released on Friday showed India's forex reserves jumped by USD 3.293 billion to USD 696.61 billion in the week to December 26. The overall kitty had increased by USD 4.368 billion to USD 693.318 billion in the previous reporting week.
