Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), which is the largest institutional investor in the Indian stock markets, was net buyers of equities in the third quarter of FY25 at over Rs 19,400 crore.
While this was higher than the previous quarter when LIC was net buyer at Rs Rs 18,094 crore, it is lower than Q1 of FY25 when the net buying was pegged at Rs 23,516 crore.
Further, the quarter ended December 31, 2024 saw LIC adding eight new stocks and increasing its stake in 81 existing ones. On the other hand, it reduced holdings in 87 stocks while exiting eight others, as per data from primeinfobase.com.
On an overall basis, LIC’s portfolio comprised 286 stocks valued at approximately Rs 15.29 lakh crore at the end of Q3 of FY25. The impact of the market correction was clearly visible as the portfolio value of LIC at the end of Q2 was around Rs 16.76 lakh.
Meanwhile, key portfolio additions during Q3 included Maruti Suzuki (Rs 2,913 crore), Nestle India (Rs 2,774 crore), Procter & Gamble Hygiene (Rs 2,021 crore), NMDC (Rs 2,006 crore), RIL (Rs 1,810 crore), and Hindustan Zinc (Rs 1,646 crore).
On the other hand, the list of companies where it reduced its stake was topped by Tata Power (Rs 1,931 crore), Infosys (Rs 1,712 crore), HCL Technologies (Rs 1,600 crore), along with TCS, Divi’s Lab, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, and Vedanta.
The insurance behemoth also made fresh investments in companies like Hyundai Motor India, NTPC Green Energy, Cochin Shipyard, Ramkrishna Forgings, RBL Bank, and OCCL Ltd.
Further, it has either fully exited or reduced its holding to below one percent in companies like HPCL, Rajesh Exports, Siemens, Shriram Finance, Jet Airways, Strides Pharma, Gujarat Industries Power, and Bombay Dyeing.
Incidentally, the robust buying by LIC comes at a time when domestic institutional investors (DIIs), including mutual funds, continue aggressive buying, providing market resilience. DIIs invested Rs 1.86 lakh crore in Q3, while foreign investors sold shares worth Rs 11,788 crore during the same period.
Even in the current calendar year, the trend has continued with NSDL data showing that FIIs have been net sellers at Rs 85,369 crore even as DIIs have net bought shares worth nearly Rs 94,000 crore, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
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