4 pharma names among top 10 stocks that retail investors are selling now

MUMBAI: Over the past 18 months, retail investors have become the pre-eminent force in the Indian stock market. Accounting for close to 45 per cent of the daily turnover on the National Stock Exchange, the cohort has become as powerful as institutional investors in the market.

Over the past 14 months, stock brokers have added close to a 1 million new dematerialised accounts on an average, reflecting a surge in retail money that has taken the Indian equity market by surprise.

That said, it is now imperative for market observers to track where these retail flows are headed and from where they are exiting. In the September quarter, retail investors were net buyers of stocks by over Rs 12,000 crore.

However, out of the 330 stocks listed on the National Stock Exchange that have reported their September quarter shareholding data, retail investors trimmed their stake in 110, data available on AceEquity showed.

Of the 110 scrips, the stocks that saw the biggest decline in retail shareholding on a percentage basis were Granules India, Canara Bank, Suven Life Sciences and seven others.

Pharmaceutical names dominated the list in-line with the recent decline in optimism for the sector among investors. Retail investors trimmed their holding in Granules India, Suven Life, Mangalam Drugs and Cupid by 164-365 basis points sequentially in the September quarter, data showed.

Granules India, one the big money makers of last year, was the worst hit as retail holding in the company went down 325 basis points on-quarter as the stock went off the boil in the September quarter. Over the past three months, the stock has fallen 11 per cent whereas it has underperformed the Nifty500 index by a mile on a year-to-date basis.


An interesting name on the list is state-owned lender Canara Bank, which had a strong September quarter. Retail holding in the stock went down by 159 basis points in the quarter even as the stock rose over 20 per cent.

The decline in shareholding of retail investors in Canara Bank coincides with the entry of veteran investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who bought 1.6 per cent stake in the September quarter.

Jaykay Enterprises, Goodluck India, Xpro India, Greenpanel Industries, and Batliboi were the other five stocks that rounded off the list.