RIL, IDFC First Bank to Reliance Power: Here's what mutual funds bought and sold in March

Mutual funds lapped up stocks worth ₹11,400 crore from the secondary market in March, and rejigged their portfolios in large, mid, and small-cap segments.

According to a report on Mutual Fund Insights by Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research, significant buying and selling was visible by active fund managers, with mutual fund houses raising stake in several popular stocks like Reliance Industries (RIL) and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) while selling some names like Muthoot Finance, Voltas and BSE.

Large-cap Stocks

Among large-cap stocks, India's three largest firms by market capitalization - RIL, TCS and HDFC Bank were among the top additions. They bought Reliance shares worth ₹3,000 crore last month, HDFC Bank shares worth ₹3,400 crore and TCS shares worth ₹1,600 crore. Zomato and Reliance subsidiary Jio Financial also saw significant buying action in the large-cap category.

On the other hand, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Airtel, Bharat Electron, and Axis Bank witnessed the highest selling by mutual fund houses in March.

Mid-cap Stocks

In the mid-cap segment, Max Financial ( ₹1200 crore), Indian Hotels ( ₹600 crore), IDFC First Bank ( ₹600 crore), CG Power and Industries ( ₹500 crore) along with Samvardhana Motherson ( ₹400 crore) were the top picks of mutual funds last month. On the flip side, key selling was seen in Muthoot Finance, Godrej Properties, Fortis Healthcare, Voltas, and Glenmark Pharma.

Small-cap Stocks

Among small-cap stocks, significant buying was seen in Hitachi Energy, where mutual funds bought shares worth ₹1100 crore.

TBO Tek, JB Chem & Pharma, Aster DM Healthcare and Crompton Green Consumer, according to Nuvama's report were among other top picks in the small-cap category.

Highest selling was seen in Aavas Financiers, NALCO, Godrej Industries, CAMS Services and high-flying stock BSE Ltd.

In the small-cap space, HDFC Mutual Fund made a fresh entry in Reliance Power shares. However, some mutual funds completely exited some stocks like Hindustan Oil, Puravankara, Balmer Lawrie, Ramky Infra and Venky's (India).

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