LIC employees plan to observe a two-hour walk-out strike on August 4 to protest against the LIC (Amendment) Bill, 2009, introduced by the finance minister in the Lok Sabha on Friday, a senior office-bearer of an employees association said.
"We are observing a two-hour nation-wide walk-out strike on August 4, opposing the LIC Amendment Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha. Around 70,000 employees from 2,048 centres will go strike," All India Insurance Employees' association general secretary, K Venu Gopal, told PTI in Mumbai.
The Bill says that the minimum capital of LIC would be increased from the present Rs 5-crore (Rs 50-million) to Rs 100-crore (Rs 1 billion).
"There is no need for this as the corporation has been doing its expansion from its internal resources for the last 56-years without Government support," Gopal said.
According to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, insurance companies registered after 1999 are expected to have a capital base of Rs 100-crore (Rs 1 billion) but since LIC was registered in 1956, it does not require to increase its paid-up capital to Rs 100-crore (Rs 1 billion), he said.
He further alleged that increase in the paid-up capital to Rs 100-crore (Rs 1-billion) could be a precursor to disinvestment as Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million) is a very small amount for disinvestment.
© 2025