The Life Insurance Corporation of India was founded in 1956 when the Parliament of India passed the Life Insurance of India Act that nationalised the private insurance industry in India. Over 245 insurance companies and provident societies were merged to create the state owned Life Insurance Corporation. The Economic Times Brand Equity Survey 2012 rated LIC as the No. 6 Most Trusted Service Brand
of India. From the year 2006, LIC has been continuously winning the Readers' Digest Trusted brand award. Voted India's Most Trusted brand in the BFSI category according to the Brand Trust Report for 4 continuous years - 2011-2014 according to the Brand Trust Report. LIC holds shares worth about Rs 2.33 lakh crore in all the Nifty companies put together, but it lowered its holding in a total of 27 Nifty companies during the quarter. The cumulative value of LIC holding in these 27 companies fell by little over Rs 8,000 crore during the quarter shows the analysis of changes in their shareholding patterns. Individually, LIC is estimated to have sold shares worth Rs 500-1,000 crore in each of Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, L&T, HDFC, Wipro, SBI, Maruti Suzuki, Dr Reddys and Bajaj Auto. The insurance behemoth also trimmed holdings in Ambuja Cements, Cipla, TCS, Lupin and Asian Paints. A marginal decline was also witnessed in its stakes in companies such as IDFC, Hindustan Unilever, Grasim, ACC, BPCL, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Sun Pharma and Tata Power. On the other hand, LIC further ramped up its stake in a total of 14 Nifty constituents with purchase of shares worth an estimated Rs 4,000 crore. The major companies where LIC has raised its stake include Infosys, RIL,Coal India Ltd and Cairn India. Other such companies are ITC, Power Grid Corp, NTPC, Siemens, Bharti Airtel and Hero MotoCorp. The state-run insurer also marginally hiked its exposure in Ultratech, Gail India, Ranbaxy, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HCL Technologies, while its shareholding remained almost unchanged in companies like ONGC, Tata Steel, BHEL and Reliance Infra. Among the Nifty companies, LIC’s holding in terms of value is estimated to be highest in ITC (Rs 27,326 crore), followed by RIL (Rs 21,659 crore), ONGC (Rs 17,764 crore), SBI (Rs 17,058 crore), L&T (Rs 16,800 crore), and ICICI Bank (Rs 10,006 crore).