The Life Insurance Corporation of India’s (LIC) mega IPO is set to hit the markets in March. It has generated a lot of interest amongst policyholders for whom the state-owned life insurance giant will be carving out a reserves-up-to-10-of-issue-size-for-policyholders-in-its-ipo-8087001.html">special quota. And, to make the deal sweeter for policyholders, LIC is also likely to offer a lics-policyholders-must-know-about-investing-in-its-ipo-8145831.html">discount on issue price. The details and quantum of discount will be disclosed closer to the IPO.

Irrespective of the discount, however, you need to understand the parameters key to an insurance company’s valuation, LIC’s performance and its future prospects and so on before taking the call to invest. This is particularly true if you are a first-time equity investor.