LIC suffered a loss of 11500 crore due to the fall in ITC shares
ITC’s shares have fallen sharply in two days following the government’s new excise duty on cigarettes. This has a direct impact on the investment of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). On January 2, ITC shares fell 5% to hit a new 52-week low of Rs 345.25 per share. However, there was a slight recovery later. In the first two trading sessions of the year 2026, ITC’s shares fell more than 14 percent.
The fall in stocks caused a stir: According to shareholding pattern data for the July-September quarter (FY26), 100% stake in ITC is held by public shareholders. It has no promoter or promoter group. LIC alone has a 15.86% stake in ITC, while General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) holds 1.73%, and The New India Assurance Company Limited holds 1.4%.
LIC has incurred a paper loss of Rs 11,468 crore due to the sale of ITC shares. As of the closing level on December 31, LIC’s total stake in ITC was valued at Rs 80,028 crore. At the same time, it is now at a record low of Rs 68,560 crore.
In this way, the sale of ITC shares cleared Rs 13,740 crore from the portfolio of these three government insurance companies in just two days. It is important to note here that this is a notional loss. Unless insurance companies sell stocks at 52-week lows, it will be considered a paper loss.
72000 crore loss to ITC: Shares of ITC closed at Rs 350.10 per share on January 2, down nearly 4%. The stock has fallen more than 13 percent in the past five days and more than 15 percent in the past six months. Due to this, the market capitalization of the company has reduced by Rs 72,000 crore in two days, which is now around Rs 4,38,639 crore. The stock currently has a P/E ratio of 22.59.
