LIC's holding at all time low on profit booking

LIC's holding across 296 companies where its holding is more than 1 per cent, slipped to an all-time low of 3.66 per cent as on March 31, 2021, down from 3.70 per cent as on December 31, 2020 and from all-time high of 5 per cent as on June 30, 2012, as per primeinfobase.com, an initiative of PRIME Database Group.

According to Pranav Haldea, Managing Director, Prime Database Group, this was on account of profit booking by India's largest institutional investor.

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In INR value terms though, it reached an all-time high of Rs 7.24 lakh crore in quarter ending March 31, 2021, an increase of 6.30 per cent over previous quarter. Sensex and Nifty rose by 3.70 and 5.10 per cent respectively during this period. LIC also continues to command a lion's share of investments in equities by insurance companies (76 per cent share).

Holding of Insurance companies as a whole also declined to a 5 year low of 4.80 per cent as on March 31, 2021 down from 5.00 per cent as on December 31, 2020. In INR value terms, it went up by 3.09 per cent from the previous quarter to an all time high of Rs 9.48 lakh crores as on March 31, 2021

Holding of domestic Mutual Funds in companies listed on NSE also reduced to 7.23 per cent as on March 31, 2021 down from 7.42 per cent as on December 31, 2020.

According to Haldea, holding of Mutual Funds has now declined for four consecutive quarters, after 24 quarters of continuous rise (from 2.81 per cent as on March 31, 2014 to 7.96 per cent as on March 31, 2020). Net outflows by domestic Mutual Funds stood at INR 26,810 crore during the quarter, as retail investors booked profits. In INR value terms, the holding of domestic Mutual Funds went up by 4.81 per cent to Rs 14.30 lakh crore as on March 31, 2021 from INR 13.64 lakh crores on December 31, 2021.

Holding of Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) stood at 22.60 per cent as on March 31, 2021, down from 22.74 per cent as on December 31, 2020, despite net inflows of Rs 55,741 crore during the quarter, according to Haldea. In INR value terms, FPI ownership also reached an all-time high of Rs 44.66 lakh crore as on March 31, 2021, up 6.77 per cent from Rs 41.83 lakh crore as on December 31, 2020.

According to Haldea, retail holding (individuals with up to Rs 2 lakh shareholding) in companies listed on NSE remained the same at 6.90 per cent as on March 31, 2021. In INR value terms though, retail holding in companies listed on NSE also reached an all-time high of Rs 13.63 lakh crore from INR 12.69 lakh crore on December 31, 2020.

On an overall basis, retail holding went up in 863 companies listed on NSE in the last 1 quarter. The average stock price of these companies in the same period increased by 5.52 per cent. On the other hand, retail holding went down in 713 companies. The average stock price of these companies increased by a much higher 15.57 per cent. According to Haldea, this further validates the oft-used phrase that retail buys at the peak and sells at lows.