Had it not been for a timely Rs 11,000-crore bailout by the country’s largest insurer , the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the government’s divestment programme for the last fiscal would have been a disaster.

LIC invested Rs 10,817 crore in public sector floats last year, accounting for more than 43% of the Rs 25,000 crore raised by the government from four share issues, according to finance ministry statistics tabled in Parliament.

A large portion of the amount was pumped in to save the follow-on offers of NMDC and NTPC, where LIC subscribed around 63.72% and 49.48%, respectively.

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