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Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) on Saturday (October 25, 2025) said its investments in Adani group companies have been made independently and in accordance with its board-approved policies, following detailed due diligence. "Department of Financial Services [in the Union Finance Ministry] or any other body does not have any role in such [investment] decisions," LIC said in a statement posted on X. India's largest insurer has, over the years, made investment decisions across companies based on fundamentals and detailed due diligence. Its investment value in India's top 500 companies has grown 10-fold since 2014 — from ₹1.56 lakh crore to ₹15.6 lakh crore — reflecting strong fund management. "The investment decisions are taken by LIC independently as per Board-approved policies after detailed due diligence," LIC said. "LIC has ensured the highest standards of due diligence and all its investment decisions have been undertaken in compliance with extant policies, provisions in the Acts and regulatory guidelines, in the best interest of all its stakeholders." The statement was in response to a report in The Washington Post alleging officials orchestrated a plan to steer LIC into investing in the Adani group earlier this year, when the ports-to-energy conglomerate was facing a debt pile and scrutiny in the U.S.. The report highlighted LIC's May 2025 investment of USD 570 million in Adani Ports & SEZ (APSEZ), which holds the highest 'AAA' credit rating in India. LIC said that the Department of Financial Services or any other body does not have any role in its investment decisions, and the report carries statements "with the intentions to prejudice the well-settled decision-making process of LIC and also to tarnish the reputation and image of LIC and the strong financial sector foundations in India." The insurer is not a small, single-purpose fund but India's largest institutional investor with over ₹41 lakh crore (over $500 billion) in assets. It invests across 351 publicly listed stocks (as of early 2025) spanning virtually every major business group and sector. LIC also holds substantial government bonds and corporate debt. Its portfolio is highly diversified, spreading risk. LIC's exposure to the Adani group is less than 2% of the conglomerate's total debt, helmed by India's second-richest man, Gautam Adani. Global investors like U.S.’s largest funds, BlackRock, Apollo, Japan's largest banks, Mizuho, MUFG, and Germany's second largest bank DZ Bank have also invested in Adani debt in recent months, reflecting global confidence in the group. Sources said Adani's total debt of ₹2.6 lakh crore is backed ₹90,000 crore in annual operating profit and ₹60,000 crore in cash. This means Adani could knock off its entire debt in under three years if it paused new infrastructure investments. On the equity side, Adani is not LIC's largest holding — Reliance Industries Ltd., ITC, and the Tata Group are. LIC owns 4% (₹60,000 crore) of Adani stocks versus 6.94% (₹1.33 lakh crore) in Reliance, 15.86% (₹82,800 crore) in ITC Ltd, 4.89% (₹64,725 crore) in HDFC Bank, and 9.59% (₹79,361 crore) in SBI. LIC holds 5.02% of TCS worth ₹5.7 lakh crore.
