Small investors are becoming pickier about the stocks they own. In the September quarter, they reduced their stakes in nearly half of listed companies, even as Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and PC Jeweller drew more retail shareholders.
A Mint analysis of 4,729 BSE-listed companies showed retail ownership (those holding up to ₹1 lakh in equity) declined in 49.4% of companies in Q2FY27, up from 47.5% in Q1FY27. The proportion recording an increase slipped to 42.4% from 43.2%, while 8.2% saw no change, according to ACE Equity data.
Vedant Gupte, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of investment platform Trackk, interprets the divergence as portfolio pruning. “We read the September-quarter data as a clean-up of portfolios, not a loss of faith,” he said.
He sees two strands of buying: established businesses at more attractive valuations, and riskier momentum or turnaround bets. The disclosures, however, do not establish whether the same investors moved money between these groups.
Four companies together recorded more than a million net retail shareholder additions in the September quarter. Reliance led with 401,762, followed by HDFC Bank with 273,525, PC Jeweller with 242,298 and Cupid with 173,458. The additions may include investors holding multiple companies.