Life Insurance Corporation of India staff strike on Feb 4

Kolkata/Chennai: Life Insurance Corporation of India employees will hold a nationwide one-hour strike on February 4 in protest against Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget proposal to sell a part of the Central government’s holding in the state-run financial institution.

“We will hold a one-hour nationwide strike on Tuesday from 12.15 to 1.15 p.m. We will stage a demonstration in all our offices also then,” Life Insurance Employees Association’s Kolkata division Vice President Pradip Mukherjee told IANS.

“We will then hit the streets to protest and resist the step. We will also go to all the MPs,” he added.

Describing the proposal of partial disinvestment of LIC as “against national interest”, Mukherjee said the company was now India’s biggest financial corporation in terms of assets, even surpassing the State Bank of India.

As per figures released in December, LIC cornered about 80 percent of the market share in the insurance business despite the presence of 24 private companies. The year on year growth is 19 percent, despite the business slowdown in the country and the global economic downslide, said Mukherjee.

“We have given a dividend of Rs 2611 crore to the government for the financial year 2018-19. We have an income of over Rs 3 lakh crore,” he said.

“Since its formation in 1956, LICI has made a signal contribution in nation-building and spends lakhs and crores of rupees in implementation of schemes in every five-year plan, besides an unparalleled role in social sector reforms. (IANS)

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