FIIs own more of blue chip firms than domestic FIs

Banks, mutual funds and financial institutions (FIs), including the Industrial Development Bank of India and the Industrial Finance Corporation of India, are no longer the largest shareholders in Indian blue chip companies "" foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are.

The FIIs have invested more than $21.5 billion in the stock markets since January 2002 and, at the end of the March 2005 quarter, were the largest shareholders in more than 270 companies.

In contrast, banks and FIs which held the largest stake in some 75 firms during the March 2002 quarter now hold less equity in these companies than the FIIs do. By the end of the March 2005 quarter, the holdings of banks and FIs in Sesa Goa, IBP, Dena Bank, Pantaloon Retail, Bank of India, Mercator Lines and Andhra Bank dropped by more than 50 per cent from their March 2002 level. 

The foreign hand
	March'04		March '05
(In %)	FIIs	FIs	FIIs	FIs
Mahindra & Mahindra	21.99	29.85	27.34	27.06
Grasim Industries	19.82	22.91	23.69	19.54
HPCL	19.7	20.48	21.71	18.25
Hindalco	19.03	20.14	22.73	17.04
CESC	12.54	17.06	17.43	15.52
Bharat Forge	12.45	14.90	17.13	12.51
Marico Ind	8.86	14.01	12.10	11.13
Hindustan Lever	13.09	13.95	14.43	13.52
TVS Motor	9.81	11.71	11.61	10.94
SBI	11.46	11.63	11.9	11.5
Bharat Electronics	6.26	10.56	9.10	8.09
Swaraj Mazda	4.62	10.55	9.31	5.46
Nicholas Piramal	6.08	9.49	12.73	6.20
Himatsingka Seide	6.22	9.37	11.17	7.25
Cadila Healthcare	8.15	9.33	10.90	7.81
Trent	6.91	9.19	21.66	5.49
*FIs (Banks,financial institutions and mutual funds)

However, the FIIs increased their stake in Sesa Goa to 10.64 per cent in the March 2005 quarter versus no shareholding in March 2002. In Dena Bank, the FIIs raised their holdings to 5.71 per cent, in Bank of India to 10.82 per cent, in Mercator Lines to 21.75 per cent, in Andhra Bank to 16.07 per cent, in Aban Loyd Chiles to 10.31 per cent, in Gammon India to 10.43 per cent and in Jyoti Structures to 8.84 per cent from no holdings three years back.

Among the 30 companies whose shares are included in the Sensex basket, FIIs were the largest shareholders among institutional investors at the end of the March 2005 quarter versus 22 during the March 2002 quarter. The figures for the March 2003 quarter and the March 2004 quarter were 15 and 22, respectively.

Over the last one year, the FIIs increased their holdings by more than 10 per cent in 31 companies, by between 5 per cent and 10 per cent in 40 companies and by 2 per cent to 5 per cent in another 60 companies.

For instance, the FII stake in Ind Swift Lab was 35.47 per cent at the end of March 2005 quarter versus nil in previous year. In Mahindra Gesco Developers, FII holdings increased to 22.41 per cent from below one per cent in the previous year.

The figures for other companies: Elder Pharma "" 23.65 per cent from 3.86 per cent; Max India "" 23.25 per cent (3.98 per cent); Reliance Capital "" 21.72 per cent (4.40 per cent); IVRCL Infrastructure "" 19.24 per cent (1.93 per cent) and Indraprastha Gas "" 16.61 per cent (0.76 per cent).

As far as companies whose shares are included in the S&P CNX Nifty basket are concerned, the FIIs increased their stake to 24.39 per cent from 9.24 per cent in the previous year in Bharti Tele-Ventures.

In Punjab National Bank, they raised their holdings to 18.32 per cent (5.51 per cent), in Gujarat Ambuja Cement to 32.31 per cent (21.70 per cent), in ABB to 15.39 per cent (8.74 per cent), in Tata Tea to 20.16 per cent (13.69 per cent) and in Zee Tele to 40.99 per cent (34.93 per cent).