Congress calls LIC Modi govt's 'favourite milch cow'

Continuing its criticism of the Narendra Modi government's plans to use the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to infuse funds into IDBI Bank, the Congress on Monday tweeted the government was insuring “itself at the cost of LIC's policyholders”.

The Congress tweeted, “The Modi Govt insures itself at the cost of LIC policy holders. The ‘begging bowl syndrome’ of state-run banks has made the LIC, the Modi Govt's favourite milch cow.”

It was reported last week the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority had approved plans by LIC to purchase a 51 per cent stake in IDBI Bank, which is a loss-making enterprise. The Congress had criticised the move on Saturday and alleged the Modi government was flouting regulations and “undertaking yet another episode of financial anarchy”.

Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi said the Modi government was abusing the faith of common people in LIC and burdening them with an “estimated Rs 13,000 crore”. She described the amount was a 'bailout' package for IDBI Bank that would jeopardise the savings of 38 crore LIC policyholders.

Chaturvedi said IDBI Bank was the worst-performing public sector bank whose Q4 losses have swollen to Rs 5,663 crore and gross NPAs to a whopping Rs 55,588.26 crore. "It has a bad loans ratio of close to 28 per cent. This basically means that Rs 28 out of every Rs 100 the bank has given out as a loan hasn't been repaid for 90 days or more,” she claimed.

(With IANS inputs)