The insurance behemoth’s market share in adjusted individual business premium was 42.4% in May, a decline from the previous month.

Private players continued to grow faster at 22.31% compared to state-run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) which posted a growth of only 1.39% during the period, showed data from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai).

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) stipulates that insurers are allowed to hold only up to 15 per cent stake in any listed entity. But LIC, with a special dispensation from IRDAI, holds more than the limit in some state-run banks.

“The Life Insurance Corporation invested around Rs 21,624 crore in IDBI, including buying a 26 per cent stake at a price of Rs 61.73 a share. That share price has now dropped to Rs 43.10, around a 30 per cent fall in price. This is a worrying phenomenon, especially as IDBI Bank does not look like turning around anytime soon,” said officials.

The bank informed BSE that the board, at its meeting held on February 4, has approved a proposal for change of name of IDBI Bank.

They have to make provisions for it as those exposures cannot be written off, IRDAI chairman Shubash Chandra Khuntia said on the sidelines of the release of the handbook on general insurance claim insights for policyholders by the Insurance brokers association.

IDBI Bank is now a subsidiary of LIC after allotting 82,75,90,885 equity shares to the insurer at a price of Rs 60.73 per share, aggregating Rs 5,025.96 crore in the final tranche of the preferential issue.

"The deal, conceptualised in June 2018, is envisaged as a win-win situation for both IDBI Bank and LIC with an opportunity to create enormous value for shareholders, customers & employees of both entities through mutual synergies," IDBI Bank said in a BSE filing.