New Delhi: The Life Insurance Corporation of India Ltd, or LIC, has “consistently approved or never opposed” resolutions proposed before shareholders of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) or any Adani Group company for more than three years now, according to an an analysis by Mint.

The media house found this after it reviewed around 9,000 voting decisions by the government-run insurer since April 1, 2022.

From this time on, LIC rejected several similar proposals at other large companies, some even part of other conglomerates – proof that it was adopting different stances for companies other than Adani or Reliance-linked ones.

According to the Mint report, experts have raised concerns about how decisions are made by LIC and “whether it has different voting standards for businesses controlled by the country's wealthiest tycoons versus other companies”.

Several instances

The news report, published on November 27, cited several examples to prove this.

In August 2023, LIC voted in favour of the reappointment of Mukesh Ambani as RIL’s managing director. Ambani is also the company's chairperson. However in March 2025, LIC abstained from voting on Venu Srinivasan's re-appointment as chairman emeritus and managing director of TVS Motor Company, stating only that the abstention was “as per our internal guidelines” – a clear example of different voting stances.

The LIC did not elaborate on this decision to abstain from voting, Mint reported.

The report cited another example. In June 2024, LIC voted in favour of approving the appointment of lawyer Haigreve Khaitan as an independent director on its board when RIL sought shareholder approval to ratify this decision.

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But two months later, LIC abstained from voting on the re-appointment of independent director Rajeev Gupta to the board of Indian Energy Exchange Ltd. It cited the reason that Gupta had “excessive time commitments”, according to voting disclosures made by the insurer. According to the Mint investigation, Gupta sits on the boards of nine companies.

However, by this standard, LIC should have abstained from voting on the appointment of Khaitan as independent director on the RIL board – because Khaitan currently sits on the boards of eight companies.

According to Mint, in the same week, LIC approved the appointment of Gupta as an independent director on the board of Pidilite Industries Ltd.

Mint also cited examples involving LIC and the Adani Group.

In June last year, Adani Enterprises sought shareholder approval to reappoint Gautam Adani's brother Rajesh Adani as managing director for five years and to fix his remuneration. The company also sought approval to reappoint Pranav Adani, a nephew of the group chairman, as executive director for five vears and to fix his remuneration.

LIC abstained from voting on both the resolutions, noting that they were “compliant with law but no absolute cap on variable pay”, according to its disclosures, Mint reported.

But LIC applied an entirely different stance in a similar situation for another large company, Coromandel International Ltd, which is owned by the Murugappa Group. The company wanted to appoint the late Arunachalam Vellayan as a director and fix his remuneration and appoint Narayanan Vellayan as executive director and fix his remuneration. LIC voted against both resolutions citing “governance concern” and “no absolute cap on variable pay”.

While abstaining from voting on a resolution doesn't equate to accepting it, it also means that it is not an ‘outright opposition’, Mint cited two corporate governance experts as saying.

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When a large institutional shareholder like LIC abstains from voting on a resolution, it sends a message to the company management that they are not happy with the proposal without derailing it, the Mint report quoted Shriram Subramanian, managing director of proxy advisory firm InGovern and an expert on corporate governance, as saying.

A clear difference

In another example cited in the Mint investigation, LIC approved a resolution it had abstained from voting on in previous years. The report said. When Adani Enterprises sought shareholder approval to adopt its audited standalone and consolidated financial statements for FY25, LIC voted for this.

This breached one of the LIC’s “most consistent voting patterns” – of not approving financial statements with a qualified auditor opinion, Mint reported. A qualified audit opinion indicates that the auditor believes a company's financial statements have specific issues even if they are presented fairly, per the report.

Overall, of the roughly 9,000 resolutions since the beginning of fiscal year 2023, LIC voted in favour of over 92% of them and abstained from voting on another 6%. It rejected just under 2% of the resolutions. At Adani-owned companies, LIC approved 351 of 368 resolutions and abstained from voting on the remaining. It did not reject any resolution for Adani-owned companies.

The LIC, which is the largest public shareholder in RIL and Jio Financial Services, approved all 63 shareholder resolutions put forth by the two companies over the last 14 quarters – but rejected or abstained from voting on similar proposals at other firms, the report noted.

Why LIC’s voting is a concern

A corporate governance expert quoted in the Mint report noted that given its public responsibilities and presence, if the LIC votes one way, then it must be willing to keep the same stance across the board, whether it is an Ambani-led company or a small enterprise.

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The LIC has a stake in both Reliance and Adani-owned companies. For instance, it is the largest public shareholder in six of the seven Adani-owned companies, Mint reported. These include Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Adani Energy Solutions, Adani Total Gas, Adani Green Energy, ACC and Ambuja Cement.

Per the report, LIC's voting record “highlights a potential risk” of “inconsistent standards”, which have an impact on how the insurer manages its Rs 357.23 trillion ($645 billion) in assets under management as of September.

LIC’s different voting standards are also in violation of its responsibilities as listed in its 'stewardship code', the Mint report said. The code states that the LIC “aims to promote the long-term success of investee companies in such a way that the ultimate providers of capital also prosper”. At least on one occasion, there was a violation of these guidelines specified in LIC's voting policy document regarding discipline at its investee companies, the report noted.

Though Mint reached out to LIC, RIL and the Adani Group several days before the publication of the story on November 27, it did not receive any response from any of them, the newspaper reported.

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