New Delhi, March 20 -- Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) wants the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to issue sovereign bonds with a 100-year tenure. The state-run insurer's chief Siddhartha Mohanty has said that LIC is in discussions with RBI on the idea.

For an insurer, such long bonds can be assets that outlast the long-term liabilities that arise from its life-span coverage of policyholders. But such bonds must also be reasonably liquid, or easy to sell in the wider bond market.

To be sure, RBI began issuing 40-year government bonds in 2015 and also had a successful 50-year issue in 2023. Pension funds, insurers and other institutions with long liabilities find these useful as investments. But a 100-year bond may turn out to be a ...