GIC Insurance, which had closed yesterday at Rs.170.9o, opened over 13% higher at Rs.194 and went up further to Rs.205.05, its 20% UC of the day. New India Assurance (NIACL) went on to hit a new high at Rs.197, briefly skimming the 20% UC and is now trading at Rs.195 levels.

These two Govt owned insurance companies are up on reports stating that the Govt is looking at the option of privatizing both, GIC as well as NIACL.  In the Budget speech of FY22, the FM had said that the Govt was looking at privatizing two banks and one general insurance company.

The Govt currently holds 85.78% stake in GIC Insurance and 85.44% in NIACL.

Interestingly, earlier there were plans to merge GIC Insurance, NIACL and United Insurance by end of March 2020 but that did not happen due to the financial weakness of all these companies.

Apart from these three, the Govt also owns National Insurance, New India Assurance and Oriental Insurance.