The mega initial public offering or let’s call it the mother of all IPOs is almost here. The Life Insurance Corporation of India or LIC IPO 2022 is expected to open in the next few weeks.
Some of the readers interested in LIC IPO 2022 wanted to know what is the PAN linking thing about the LIC IPO. They sent questions like:
- Is it mandatory to link PAN with LIC policy?
- How can I link my PAN card with LIC policy?
- How can I check my LIC PAN Link?
So I thought I will write a small post on this topic of LIC IPO for Policyholders and PAN Linking of LIC Policy.
I am not a big fan of IPOs in general and have made my views clear a while back here and here. Whether you decide to invest in LIC IPO or otherwise, the fact is that this will be a unique IPO in many respects and hence does demand some thought.
Updated: There is a proposal to reserve up to 10% of LIC IPO issue size for the existing LIC Policyholders. The LIC is reaching out to all its policyholders to update their PAN with LIC policy (link LIC Policy and PAN number) and also open a Demat account to be ready for subscribing under the LIC Policyholder reservation quota at the time of LIC IPO.
So while other IPOs have categories for Retail, NII, QIB, Employee, etc., the LIC IPO will also have a separate category for LIC policyholders to apply for the upcoming IPO 2022. So all of you who have traditional insurance plans (like endowment & moneyback policies and many other categories of LIC policies), are eligible for some reservation during the IPO.
There LIC Policyholders will also get a discount (about 5-10%) in IPO on the final issue price.
But coming back, what do you need to do if you are a LIC policyholder and want to invest in the IPO under the reserved category?
You need to link your PAN to the LIC policy.
LIC IPO for LIC Policyholders – How to check/update PAN online?
LIC is regularly advertising and trying to reach out to its policyholders to update their PAN details and open the Demat account. Updating the PAN will help link policies to PAN and make it easy to decide IPO subscription and then allotment under the reserved category for the LIC policyholders.
Here is what you need to do:
- The very first thing to do is to check whether PAN is already linked to your policy or not. To check the PAN linkage policy status, you can click on the link Check LIC Policy PAN link status
- The next screen will ask for your policy number, date of birth, and PAN number.
- If the PAN is linked, then you are fine. Nothing to do.
- If the status shows that your PAN is not linked to the policy, then you need to link it.
- That is how you can check your LIC PAN link.
- You need to take a few steps to link your PAN with the LIC policy.
- Visit the page of Link PAN with your LIC policy
- Enter the required details like date of birth as the PAN, gender, email id, PAN number, full name as per the PAN, registered mobile number, policy number
- Once you have provided the above data, click on the declaration link and press the button ‘Get OTP’.
- Enter the OTP that you receive on your registered mobile number in the form and submit it.
- You will then get a message that your registration has been successful.
That’s it. You are done. That is the answer to the question ‘How can I link my PAN card with LIC Policy?’
But that was only about the PAN LIC Policy Linking part. You still need to have/open a Demat account before applying for the LIC IPO.
Is it mandatory to link PAN with LIC policy? It is up to you. If you want to be considered under the reserved category of policyholders for LIC IPO 2022, then you need to link your PAN card to your LIC Policy.
By the way, if you are thinking about buying a LIC policy just to become eligible for policyholder reservation in LIC IPO 2022 or to get some additional discount for LIC policyholders in LIC IPO, then I don’t think that is worth the effort. Though there are multiple numbers floating around about the valuation of the LIC and the LIC IPO issue size, one thing is clear. That this will be a huge IPO. My guess is that it will be such a massive collection of funds from the market that most would get an allotment but I may be completely wrong. The latest numbers in media put the LIC issue size at Rs 65-75,000 Crore for 5-7% stake sale. This values the LIC of India at about Rs 13-15 lakh crore.
Note – This post is for informational purposes. This should not be considered as a recommendation about whether to apply for LIC IPO or otherwise. That is your own personal decision based on what you think about the prospects of the LIC IPO 2022.