Post FM Sitharaman Statement Manish Barriarr And Tehseen Poonawalla Speak On LIC Investment

After Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the ministry does not give any directive to the Life Insurance Corp of India for investing in a particular company, Economist Manish Barriarr and Political Analyst Tehseen Poonawalla spoke about India's largest insurance company's investment strategy. Both of them spoke to news agency ANI.

There are vested interests, who are inimical to India, is putting concerting efforts to malign Life Insurance Corp, Barrier said. He emphasised people should not be making any unnecessary statement about the insurance corporation's investment strategy.

Life Insurance does not invest more than 1% in any corporate fund, as per the company's own rule, said Poonawalla. Its investments in Adani Group were Rs 30,000 crore, which have only grown to Rs 65,000 crore. "So it's only grown. It has not lost people's money."

Sitharaman said Monday her ministry does not issue advisory or directions to LIC regarding its investment decisions and emphasised that the investments that the state-owned insurer made in Adani Group were as per the established standard operating procedures.

Life Insurance Corp's one investment in Adani Group was a triple-A bond of around Rs 5,000 crore. In that particular bond series of Adani Group, many international banks, and other players are also invested, Poonawalla said.

"Life Insurance Corp is a professional institution. It's doing well for the country. India trusts Life Insurance Corp. We should keep Life Insurance Corp out of politics," he said.

"Why would Indians, especially Congress people, talk about someone like Washington Post whose news has been proved to be fake news a lot of time," Barrier said.

Meanwhile, Poonawalla also suggested that the Life Insurance Corp communicates properly to the parliamentary committees as it is ultimately a public company and it is bound to release all data about its investments