Non-mutual fund domestic institutions, which majorly includes insurance companies, sold equities when the stock markets hit all-time highs on the back of positive sentiment after the release of the exit polls. However, it was the only category of institutional investors that bought shares even as Dalal Street plunged on the day of the Lok Sabha election results.
Star Health & Allied Insurance Co. and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. were the top key additions made by insurance houses in May. Top key reductions included Tata Motors Ltd. and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., Nuvama Alternative and Quantitative Research said in a report dated June 11.
Non-mutual fund domestic institutions predominantly include insurers like ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. and HDFC Life Insurance Co. Here's how their portfolios churned in May.
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance
Top additions included Star Health by Rs 533 crore, Kotak Mahindra Bank by Rs 323 crore and Canara Bank by Rs 141 crore.
The house reduced its holdings in Tata Motors by Rs 359 crore, Bosch Ltd. by Rs 201 crore and Maruti Suzuki by Rs 162 crore.
New entrants included Keystone Realtors Ltd., Aadhar Housing Finance Ltd., TBO Tek Ltd. and Senco Gold Ltd.
HDFC Life Insurance
Large additions during the month included Canara Bank (Rs 234 crore), SKF India Ltd. (Rs 195 crore) and Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd. (Rs 194 crore).
Sona BLW Precision Ltd. (Rs 260 crore), Abbott India Ltd. (Rs 180 crore), and Bayer CropScience Ltd. (Rs 178 crore) were among the biggest reductions.
New entrants included SKF and Jubilant FoodWorks, while it made a complete exit from Abbott and Tata Motors' DVR shares.
Tata AIA Life Insurance Co.
Major additions were Timken India Ltd. (Rs 173 crore), Vedant Fashions Ltd. (Rs 171 crore) and Finolex Cables Ltd. (Rs 170 crore).
It reduced holdings in Power Finance Corp. (Rs 313 crore), Zen Technologies Ltd. (Rs 169 crore), Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. (Rs 164 crore).
BSE Ltd. and Polycab India Ltd. were among new entrants, while Aurobindo Pharma and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. were complete exits.
Kotak Life Insurance
The insurer increased its holding the most in Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (Rs 184 crore), Hero MotoCorp. (Rs 132 crore), CG Power & Industrial Solutions Ltd. (Rs 128 crore).
Among the major reductions were Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Rs 194 crore), Maruti Suzuki (Rs 109 crore), Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (Rs 81 crore).
New entrants included CG Power and Siemens Ltd., while Century Plyboards (India) Ltd. and RHI Magnesita India Ltd. were complete exits.
Capitalising On Election Swing
Non-mutual fund domestic institutions booked profits on June 3 as the NSE Nifty 50 hit a fresh record high, rising by 3.3% on positive sentiment driven by promising exit poll figures.
This cohort of investors recorded outflows worth Rs 1,454 crore, while foreign portfolio investors and domestic mutual fund houses bought worth over Rs 10,200 crore in total.
They subsequently bought the dip as the Street reacted negatively to the results on June 4, when the benchmark suffered the biggest intraday fall in four years.
Insurers bought equities worth nearly Rs 3,000 crore on the same day, while the FPIs and Indian mutual funds sold worth over Rs 18,500 crore.
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