New Delhi, Apr 29 (PTI) Ahead of the mega LIC IPO, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh asked on Friday why the Narendra Modi government fixed a "lower" price for shares of the public sector insurance company.

The government is selling over 22.13 crore shares in LIC at a price band of Rs 902-949 apiece in the initial public offering, which opens on May 4 and closes on May 9.

Also Read | – Raisina Dialogue: India’s Innate Globalism & Guiding Principles – India First … – Latest Tweet by Prasar Bharati News Services.

In a tweet, former union minister Ramesh said, "Big stock market players are salivating at prospect of a jackpot in grey market after reduced price of LIC offering. This market long dormant has revived in anticipation of LIC IPO. All this is known to Modi Govt. Lower price works for optics of oversubscription but at what cost?"

"Very intriguing that while filing the prospectus in February for its mega IPO, LIC disinvestment was at 2.5 times the embedded value, but now the valuation of the IPO to open soon is just 1.1 times. Why is the Modi Govt so desperate to sell and sell cheap?" he said in an earlier tweet.

Also Read | Supreme Court Directs Release of 62-years-old Pakistan National Lodged in Detention Centre.

LIC shares would start trading on stock exchanges on May 17.

The government expects to raise around Rs 21,000 crore from LIC IPO, which values the state-owned insurer at Rs 6 lakh crore.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)