



Individual investors sharpen focus on large-cap giants
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s retail investors turned selective in the March quarter, funnelling money into a narrow set of large-cap banking, metals, energy and technology stocks even as broader market participation weakened amid persistent volatility.A Mint analysis of shareholding data for 4,489 BSE-listed companies showed that only about a quarter of listed firms witnessed a rise in retail investor participation during Q4FY26, while nearly 70% saw a decline in retail ownership.Among the biggest beneficiaries were private sector lender HDFC Bank Ltd and state-run miner Hindustan Copper Ltd, which together added nearly 1.1 million new retail investors between December and March quarters.Individuals holding nominal share capital up to ₹2 lakh are categorized as retail investors.“The rise in retail holdings in large-cap stocks such as HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and Hindustan Copper reflects that retail investors have become more selective and defensive, with a clear preference for fundamentally strong companies offering stable earnings growth and healthy balance sheets,” said Naveen Vyas, senior vice president, Anand Rathi Global Finance.“This shift suggests a safety-first approach, as many retail investors have seen wealth erosion over the last 12-18 months through exposure to high-beta small-cap and micro-cap stocks.”HDFC Bank emerged as the biggest retail favourite during the quarter, adding 570,540 individual investors and taking its retail shareholder base to 4.1 million.
The increase marked the highest addition recorded by the company since Q4FY24.The surge also reflected a sharp reversal from the December quarter, when the lender saw a net decline of nearly 48,172 retail investors.The renewed
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