IREDA, IRFC among top retail investor buys during the March quarter

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India’s retail investors piled into state-run companies like IRFC and IREDA during the January – March period, according to data from Prime Infobase. Retail investors bought IRFC shares worth ₹1,533 crore during the March quarter. Interestingly, IRFC has little free float in the market as the government still holds an 86% stake in the company.

IREDA, the most recent PSU listing also caught the fancy of retail investors. Having listed in November last year at an issue price of ₹32, IREDA made a record high of ₹214 swiftly before correcting. Retail investors purchased IREDA shares worth ₹1,561 crore during the quarter.

HDFC Bank, NHPC, ITC are some of the other shares that retail investors bought during the first quarter of the calendar year.

Another interesting addition in that list is Zee Entertainment, as retail investors bought shares worth ₹1,900 crore of the under-fire media company. Zee’s shares have halved so far in 2024, after its proposed $10 billion merger with Sony failed to go through. However, Domestic Institutions have cut their stake in Zee during the March quarter to 36% from 45% in December.

While retail investors piled into PSUs and other smaller names, they were sellers in most largecap Nifty 50 constituents like Reliance Industries, TCS, Infosys, BPCL, ICICI Bank and Wipro.

On one side, they were net buyers in railway names like IRFC, they were net sellers in PSUs like IRCTC.

When it comes down to the number of retail shareholders, they are betting big on the Tata Group stocks. In the list of the highest number of retail shareholders in retail companies, three Tata Group stocks feature in the Top 10.

Yes Bank, Suzlon, Jio Financial Services and Reliance Power, along with Vodafone Idea are also some other names with a large retail presence.

While stocks like NHPC, IRFC, and Yes Bank have seen a significant rise in retail shareholders during the March quarter, stocks like LIC, India Shelter Finance, Avenue Supermarts has seen a decline in the number of retail shareholders.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow