The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to stay the allotment of shares of the Life Insurance Corporation while hearing a bunch of petitions filed by some policyholders, Bar and Bench reported.
The petitioners had challenged the constitutional validity of provisions of certain sections of the Finance Act, 2021, and the LIC Act, 1956, according to The Indian Express.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and PS Narasimha, however, issued a notice to the Centre and the insurance behemoth. It has asked them to reply within eight weeks.
The judges said that the court is reluctant to grant any interim relief in matters concerning commercial investments and initial public offerings.
An initial public offering is a process in which private companies offer shares to the public by issuing new stocks. At the end of the IPO process, the company gets listed on the stock exchange and is allowed to raise capital from public investors.
The IPO of Life Insurance Corporation opened on May 4 and ended on May 9. The results of its allotments will be announced on Thursday.
The price band for the LIC IPO was fixed between Rs 902 to Rs 949 per equity share. According to data from the Bombay Stock Exchange, the IPO was fully subscribed on the second day of bidding.
The Centre hopes to raise Rs 21,000 crore through the public offer. It said that the LIC IPO was one of India’s largest ever. The state-owned company is likely to be listed on stock exchanges on May 17.
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