LIC Invested Over ₹48,284 Crore into the Adani Group, Finance Ministry Reveals

Key Points

The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) invested ₹48,284.64 crore into the Adani Group as of 30 September 2025. The information was made public by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as written reply to a Lok Sabha question raised on 1 December 2025. The announcement follows a report published by The Washington Post in October 2025, which revealed that the state-run life insurance company had invested around $3.9 billion (~₹32,000 crore) to refinance Gautam Adani’s corporate debt.

The total investment by LIC – ₹38,658.85 crore in equity and ₹9,625.77 crore in debt – was distributed across seven companies run by the Adani Group: Adani Enterprises Ltd., Adani Total Gas Ltd., Adani Green Energy Ltd., Adani Energy Solutions Ltd., Adani Ports Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), Ambuja Cements Ltd. and ACC Ltd.

The reply further stated that LIC had invested ₹5,000 crore in secured Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) issued by APSEZ in May 2025. The earlier Washington Post report stated that LIC had financed a bond of $585 million (~₹5,000 crore) issued by Adani Ports against a pile of existing debt. The total debt investment made by LIC in APSEZ and Adani Ports totalled to ₹9,625.77 crore.

See Also: LIC’s Exposure to Adani Group Climbs to ₹48,285 Crore as Government Distances Itself

Lok Sabha Question: Investment by LIC in Adani Group

The Finance Ministry’s answer was given in reply to a starred question raised by MPs Mohammad Jawed and Mahua Moitra on the first day of the Winter Session of Parliament 2025. The question could not be asked in the prescribed time slot and so was answered with a written reply.

The question had six parts:

1. Recent investments made by LIC into the Group

2. Instructions issued by the Finance Ministry or Department of Financial Services (DFS) for the investments

3. Compliance, risk assessment, due diligence, and consultations undertaken before the investments

4. Implication assessments made before the investments and steps taken to ensure transparency

5. All Adani Group companies into which investments were made along with details of the first investment

6. All private companies into which LIC has invested along with details

What Else Did the Reply Say?

The answer clarified that the Finance Ministry had not issued any directions to LIC prior to investment, in contradiction of the earlier Washington Post report.

LIC, it said, is in charge of its own investments which are made “following strict due diligence, risk assessment and fiduciary compliance and are governed by the provisions of Insurance Act, 1938 as well as regulations issued by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) (wherever applicable) from time to time.”

It further stated that LIC invests “in the top 500 companies listed on NSE and BSE and a major portion of LIC’s investment currently is in the larger companies out of these.” As of 30 September 2025, LIC had invested ₹4,30,776.97 crore in Nifty 50 companies, accounting for 45.85% of its total equity investment.

The reply added that the corporation’s accounts are not verified directly by the government, but by “Concurrent Auditors, Statutory Auditors, System Auditors, Internal Financial Control (IFC) Auditors and internal Vigilance team,” with periodic inspections by the sector regulator IRDAI.

The answer did not provide an exhaustive list of private companies LIC invested in, saying it “may not be commercially prudent and could affect LIC’s operational debt interests.”

In the annexure, it provided a comparison of investments made by LIC in Adani Group companies in 2007 – from when data is first available – and 2025. In 2007, investments totalled to ₹2,041.60 crore.

It also listed:

• LIC’s Top 5 Debt Investments in the Public Sector – the biggest investment was ₹48,662.98 crore in Power Finance Corporation Ltd.

• LIC’s Top 5 Debt Investments in the Private Sector – the biggest investment was ₹49,149.14 crore in HDFC Bank Ltd.

• LIC’s Top 5 Equity Investments in the Public Sector – the biggest investment was ₹26,872.98 crore in State Bank of India.

• LIC’s Top 5 Equity Investments in the Private Sector – the biggest investment was ₹40,901.38 crore in Reliance Industries Ltd.

LIC also invested in other private companies like Infosys, TCS, Unilever, amongst others. [Rh]

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