Life Insurance Corporation of India's board has approved a 1:1 bonus share issue, marking the state-owned insurer's first such action since its 2022 listing. Every shareholder on the record date will receive one additional share for each share held, effectively doubling the share count without a cash outlay. The issue will be funded by capitalizing Rs 6,325 crore from LIC's existing reserves, with completion targeted within two months of board approval and a December 2025 deadline. Bonus issues of this scale signal management confidence in reserve adequacy and typically compress the per-share price while expanding retail accessibility and market liquidity. For LIC, whose majority ownership sits with the Government of India, the move also broadens the float denominator without diluting earnings per share on an absolute basis, though EPS on a per-share basis adjusts downward proportionally. Investors should track the official record date announcement, as positioning ahead of that date determines bonus eligibility.
Indian startups raised $5.2 billion across 501 deals in H1 2026, down 9% in value but up 7% in deal count year-on-year, per the Inc42 Indian Tech Startup Funding Report. The drop is driven by fewer mega-rounds, while AI funding surged 317% and growth-stage deal activity hit a multi-year high.
The BSE Sensex fell 893 points and the Nifty 50 shed 279 points on June 30, 2026, wiping out roughly Rs 6 lakh crore in investor wealth in a single session. Both indices dropped 1.16%, closing at 76,200.68 and 23,824.10 respectively.
Kotak Mahindra Bank shares fell nearly 3% to Rs 397.6 after CEO Ashok Vaswani announced plans to exit the bank. Investor concern now centres on succession timing and whether the bank's ongoing digital and deposit-growth strategy will stay on track.
South Korea's Kospi dropped 3% at Monday's open while Japan's Nikkei fell 1%, as escalating US-Iran conflict triggered a broad risk-off move across Asian markets. South Korea's heavy reliance on Middle East oil imports makes it especially vulnerable to geopolitical shocks of this kind.
