A steep 15 per cent drop in the ITC shares in morning trade on Tuesday weighed heavy on its largest shareholder, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), which suffered a notional loss of over Rs 7,000 crore within the first half-an-hour. 

LIC held 16.29 per cent in the cigarette maker as of June 30, 2017. 

Domestic insurance companies together lost Rs 10,000 crore, while FPIs took a Rs 9,000 crore hit in what was the biggest fall in the ITCBSE -12.63 % stock since 1992.

LIC has been steadily raising stake in the cigarette maker for some time now, from 12.63 per cent four years ago and 14.34 per cent as of June 2016.