Life Insurance Corporation of India emerged as the largest domestic institutional investor during the June quarter, purchasing shares worth ₹16,578 crore across its top 10 stock additions. According to reports from The Economic Times, Bharti Airtel attracted the highest buying at ₹2,721 crore, with LIC increasing its holding by nearly 1.47 crore shares to reach 25.82 crore shares as of June 30. Maruti Suzuki followed as the second-largest purchase at ₹2,267 crore, while ITC secured the third position with ₹1,742 crore in investments. The buying spree included significant investments in Kotak Mahindra Bank (₹1,520 crore), UltraTech Cement (₹1,491 crore), and Reliance Industries (₹1,425 crore).
Despite aggressive buying, LIC sold shares worth ₹13,406 crore across its top 10 stock reductions during the quarter. As reported by The Economic Times, Coal India saw the highest selling at ₹2,271 crore after LIC reduced its holding by nearly 4.97 crore shares. State Bank of India followed with an estimated selling of ₹2,198 crore as the insurer cut its holding by 2.15 crore shares to 78.14 crore shares. Other major divestments included Hindustan Unilever (₹1,681 crore), Steel Authority of India (₹1,497 crore), and Tata Steel (₹1,415 crore). Some of the selling came as stocks delivered strong returns, with Bharat Forge advancing 28% during the quarter and Nestle India gaining 20%.
Despite being a net buyer of ₹8,137 crore during the quarter, LIC's share of the NSE-listed equity market declined to an all-time low of 3.48% as of June 30 from 3.72% at the end of March. According to reports from The Economic Times, its share of the free-float market also dropped to 6.98% from 7.43%. The decline came even as the market value of LIC's equity holdings increased 7.72% or ₹1.17 lakh crore to ₹16.30 lakh crore. The combination suggests the value of the wider listed market expanded faster than LIC's portfolio during the quarter, highlighting how rapidly the broader market expanded around India's largest single asset manager.
LIC shares fell nearly 9% after India opened a sale of up to 6.5% of the insurer, potentially raising $3.3 billion at a steep discount. The government disclosed the discounted offer after Monday's market close, with the full sale set to increase LIC's public shareholding to 10%. Non-retail investors bid for about 947.4 million shares against about 740 million available, with the offer's cut-off price set at ₹383.10 per share. LIC shares closed at ₹391.30, down 8.7% from Monday's closing price of ₹428.50, falling as much as 9.26% to ₹388.80 during the session. The government currently owns 96.5% of LIC, with public investors holding the remaining 3.5%. If the full 6.5% stake is sold, the government's holding will fall to 90%, increasing public ownership to 10%.
Financial services further consolidated its position as LIC's biggest sector exposure, with the value of its financial holdings increasing by ₹55,288 crore to ₹4.40 lakh crore, raising the sector's share of the portfolio to 26.99% from 25.41%. Information technology moved in the opposite direction, with the value of LIC's IT holdings declining by ₹22,067 crore to ₹1.50 lakh crore, cutting the sector's portfolio weight to 9.18% from 11.35%. The energy portfolio also shrank by ₹6,083 crore, with the sector's weight falling to 13.72% from 15.18%.
