Saturday 7 March 2020

Happy Women's Day! Women's Empowerment, the L.I.C Way!

          The topmost echelons of the management of L.I.C of India consist of many women. Unfortunately, while they are apparently interested in women's empowerment, (rather, just talking about it!) their actions belie their attitude. There are some who deliver powerful lectures on women's empowerment but when it comes to actually walking the talk, develop cold feet and coolly look the other way!

          
          My tryst with the R.T.I appeal to the organization for getting my arrears and answers to queries; proved the above-mentioned sad truth. If I'd have got all my answers, I'd have also felt empowered, but alas, these ladies have forgotten the very meaning of empowerment, by choosing to be the Devil's Advocate (literally)!
          
          True empowerment can be attained only by supporting others. If ladies deprive other ladies (and men!) of their legally rightful dues and also justify it, it's a matter of concern and shame. Surely, they can use their own sense of judgment, reasoning and logic to make the men in their team aware of their flawed and unjust decisions instead of towing their line and trying to save their jobs and maintaining the status quo!
          
          These ladies have not shown the slightest bit of support to the cause of the resigning employees; arbitrarily and unjustly not being given their arrears and difference in retirement benefits, by the management.

          So one can just conclude that women can be women's best friends and worst foes too!

          Once we get all our dues from the Corporation, I will be filling the form for Dehadaan (body-donation). That is my vow. 

          In case of my earlier demise, my family will be donating my body to my chosen hospital.

Thursday 5 March 2020

Why a veteran investor will steer clear of LIC's IPO!

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/shankar-sharma-says-he-will-never-touch-lic-as-an-investor-heres-why/articleshow/74150904.cms?from=mdr


Shankar Sharma says he will never touch LIC as an investor. Here's why

"Govt sold their unsold items to LIC and now they are selling the owner to us” said Sharma.

ETMarkets.com|
Last Updated: Feb 17, 2020, 10.53 AM IST

Veteran investor Shankar Sharma said he would stay away from the initial public offer (IPO) of state-run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), blaming the government for making it absorb public sector undertaking’s unsold issuances.

“I would never touch LIC as an investor. The government sold their unsold items to LIC and now they are selling the owner of those unsold items to us,” Sharma, Co-founder, and Chief Global Strategist, First Global said on Saturday at ANMI’s International Convention 2020.

Market participants have often blamed the government for pushing state-run corporations, particularly LIC to absorb the shortfall in their offerings, a claim which the life insurer has denied.

Earlier this month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sithamraman unveiled plans for LIC’s IPO, which is going to be a key component in the government Rs 2.1 lakh crore revenue target to be raised from the sale of public assets and equity holdings in various public sector enterprises.

Samir Arora, the Singapore-based fund manager and founder of Helios Capital, said though he was bullish on the market after the corporate tax cut, that optimism has now tempered down.

In a major fiscal booster, last September, the government had slashed effective corporate tax to 25.17 per cent inclusive of all cess and surcharges for domestic companies.

The current narrow market rally will continue, the market stalwarts said.

Read more at:

Wednesday 4 March 2020

Why LIC's IPO must be put on hold!

Source : https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/lics-mega-ipo-is-highly-unlikely-in-fy21-heres-why/articleshow/74101252.cms


LIC’s mega IPO is highly unlikely in FY21; here’s why

The chances of LIC IPO hitting the market in financial year 2021 is very low, given a slew of challenges.

ETMarkets.com|
Last Updated: Feb 12, 2020, 08.42 PM IST

Read more at:

Mumbai: The chances of Life Insurance Corporation of India’s (LIC) initial public offer (IPO) hitting the market in financial year 2021 is very low, given a slew of challenges, including valuation-related and legal challenges, says Macquarie Capital Securities.
“Even the IPO of SBI Life, which is a far simpler organisation, took 9-12 months to prepare the embedded value (EV)/valuation report and get approvals, etc. Therefore, we believe the chances of an IPO in FY21 are very low,” Macquarie analysts noted.

They pointed out that apart from legal challenges of amending the LIC Act and converting LIC to a company under the Companies Act, the biggest problem is that in the case of LIC, the entire surplus is in the form ..

Read more at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/lics-mega-ipo-is-highly-unlikely-in-fy21-heres-why/articleshow/74101252.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst ..

The valuation and capitalisation related challenges are not simple either.

Theoretically, the EV could only be the present value of 5 per cent of the surplus attributable to the shareholders, and that number is very low at Rs 20,000 crore to Rs 25,000 crore, they said.

“Now this doesn’t include the MTM (marked to market) on the massive real-estate properties that LIC owns and huge unrealised gains on the G-sec and e ..

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In light of the above-mentioned facts, we request LIC of India to firstly pay the wage revision arrears with interest accrued thereon till date of actual payment, difference accrued in Statutory Retirement Benefits like Provident Fund and Gratuity (due to wage revision), with interest accrued thereon till date of actual payment; to the resigning ex-employees since 1st August, 1997.

Only then, will the Balance Sheet depict the actual and correct state of affairs of the Corporation. Kindly note that I had already pointed out the fact that LIC has not made any provisions for this huge liability of unpaid arrears, amounting to several crores of rupees, in my RTI appeal in February, 2012. Besides, the Supreme Court has declared the said Clause 3 1 B (vide which arrears were being illegally repudiated by LIC) to be ultra vires, hence LIC is legally obliged to pay the arrears.

For LIC to offer an IPO, its Books of Accounts must be crystal clear.

LIC didn't provide me with any statistics pertaining to the actual number of resigning employees, all over India, whose arrears had been repudiated; as well as amounts due to them. Had it made provisions, it would have been able to provide me with the said statistics.

LIC just provided me with an incomplete list of resigning employees from the Western Zone, probably only pertaining to the wage revision charter 2010. My name wasn't there on the list, so LIC had obviously, prepared the list hastily. That list contained names of 45 such ex-employees, so we can imagine how many resigning ex-employees have been defrauded of their legitimate dues since 1997.

Now LIC must come clean and do the needful or its credibility will be at stake. 

We also request the Government to put LIC of India's IPO on hold till LIC pays up all its resigning ex-employees, their legally rightful dues.

By the way, I complete 10 years of my crusade against LIC's injustice, this year.

New AAO recruits, think twice before joining LIC of India!

New AAO recruits, think twice before joining LIC of India

          Recently, LIC of India has advertised for recruitment of AAOs, in the newspapers and other media. Most of you, who think that LIC's is a lucrative job with bright career prospects; and are eligible candidates; will fill in the forms. 
         
          Here's a warning. BEWARE! The reasons for exercising caution are as follows:
If selected, LIC of India will give you appointment letters, stating your expected salary, with a statement in brackets, saying, 'Wage Revision Due'.
But if you leave LIC within 3 years, you won't get the arrears due to wage revision and will be left high and dry. You'll run from pillar to post for your legally rightful dues, but won't get any response from LIC or you'll get the hackneyed response that 'as per rules, you are not eligible for arrears' payment.'
In every Charter of wage revision, LIC includes a Clause 3 1 ii)/b) which states that resigning employees will not get the arrears. This is in spite of the fact that the Supreme Court has declared this Clause to be ultra vires, in 2008.
In effect, if you stick around with LIC for a minimum of 20 years, you'll get the arrears, but if you leave before 20 years, even by one day, you won't get the arrears.
So friends, think carefully whether you'll continue to serve in LIC for so long and only then apply for the job. This is especially for the Direct Recruits as Assistant Administrative Officers in LIC of India.
If you are applying for other jobs in the Government Sector, simultaneously, and get some call letter from them after joining LIC, and decide to take up that offer and resign from LIC, you will not get the arrears payment because of LIC's Clause, as above-mentioned.

Let me give you an instance:
Mr. X joined LIC in 2013 and left in 2015, to join the Income Tax Department as an Income Tax Officer. As per the wage revision Gazette of 2016, he will not get arrears for those two years, in spite of having been on the salary roll of the Corporation!

This injustice has been going on since 1st August, 1997 (23 years and still counting!)

My sincere advice is that think not only twice but 2000 times before joining LIC of India. And if you do join, serve for full 20 years at least!
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Kindly refer to my blog post dated 14.04.2015, as follows:

                 No mention of repudiation in the appointment letters!
         
          In the appointment letters to the employees, nowhere is it mentioned that the employees can't leave service, or that their arrears' payments will be repudiated if they leave service of the Corporation. So how can this clause be introduced, that too with retrospective effect? If at all it has to be introduced, it could be with prospective effect and the same should be mentioned in the appointment letters.
          
         In fact, some employees who joined LIC in the recent years, have been given appointment letters stating that the wage revisions are due, meaning that they will be eligible for the same when they are notified. But when they resigned from LIC, they were denied the arrears' payments! Shouldn't they have been informed about the repudiation's clause, beforehand, so that they could've made an informed decision?
          
         Likewise, even after their resignation letters were received by LIC, they should've been intimated accordingly, with respect to this clause. The fact that LIC regularly accepts resignations without doing so, indicates that LIC is not playing fair. It can easily keep the resignations pending and accept them after the notification is made public, so that they aren't deprived of their hard-earned dues.
         
         The Supreme Court has declared this clause itself to be ultra vires, meaning 'beyond reach' of the Chairman's powers. But obviously, LIC's management thinks that it is beyond any law of the Nation! It is a law unto itself!
           
          Besides, the Finance Ministry too ratifies this unjust clause in the Wage Arrears' Notification, every 5 years, since 2000; without considering the Supreme Court's judgement.
          
          LIC, (and the Finance Ministry), it's time for some serious introspection!