7 Midcap stocks that the government run pension schemes love to hold

Atal Pension Yojana (APY), launched in 2015 by the central government, is aimed at providing financial security to people in the unorganised sector post-retirement. It enables the people in the unorganised sector to invest a small sum every month and get a fixed monthly pension income after they retire. Any Indian citizen aged between 18 and 40 years and not an income-tax payer can enrol in the scheme. They can get a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs. 1,000/-, 2,000/-, 3,000/-, 4,000/- or 5,000/- per month after attaining the age of 60 years, depending on the contributions made.
The APY gives a pension that is guaranteed by the government.

The premium collected from the subscribers is divided equally among the three pension fund managers – LIC pension fund, SBI pension fund and UTI pension fund. Each manages a conservative hybrid portfolio that invests up to 15 percent in equities while the rest goes into the debt and money market instruments.
Stocks are chosen from a universe of top 200 stocks shortlisted based on the average full market capitalisation of the stocks over the preceding six months, as directed by the regulator. Equity holdings have a large-cap bias, with some investments in mid-cap stocks. Currently, they manage around Rs 39,000 crore of the total APY corpus. Of these only about Rs 310 crore are in midcaps. As per an industry source, pension fund managers trimmed their midcap exposure notably over the last 6-12 months due to the higher valuation in those segments.
Here are the top mid-cap stocks held by these three fund managers. Source: website of the respective pension funds. Data as of July 2024.

Cummins India
No. of APY pension funds holding the stock: 3
Sector: Engines

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Container Corporation Of India
No. of APY pension funds holding the stock: 3
Sector: Logistics Solution Provider

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Astral
No. of APY pension funds holding the stock: 2
Sector: Plastic Products

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Bharat Forge
No. of APY pension funds holding the stock: 2
Sector: Auto Components

PI Industries
No. of APY pension funds holding the stock: 2
Sector: Pesticides and Agrochemicals

Balkrishna Industries
No. of APY pension funds holding the stock: 2
Sector: Tyres & Rubber Products

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company
No. of APY pension funds holding the stock: 2
Sector: General Insurance

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