FII holding in L&T up 11.47% in FY04

Foreign institutions investors (FIIs) have hiked their stake in engineering major Larsen & Toubro by 11.47 percentage points in fiscal year 2003-04.

The FII stake in L&T has gone up to 14.86 per cent on March 31, 2004 from a meagre 3.39 per cent last year. HSBC Global Investment Fund is the biggest foreign fund in the company with a stake of 1.42 per cent.

The foreign funds have increased their stake through open market operations.

In the last 12 months, public holding in the company has come down to 22.27 per cent from 31.11 per cent on March 31, 2003.

Meanwhile, domestic mutual fund's holding in the company has increased marginally to 12.76 per cent from 12.03. UTI Mutual Fund, with a holding of 10.34 per cent, is the biggest fund to remain invested in the company.

Banks and insurance companies have reduced their holding in the company to 26.97 per cent from 28.67 per cent. Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) holds 18.60 per cent stake in L&T, the highest in this segment.

Meanwhile, Grasim Industries has increased its stake in the company to 15 per cent from 14 per cent on March 31, 2003.

In the first week of February this year, creditors and equity shareholders of L&T had approved the de-merger of the cement division into a separate company to be called Ultra Tech CemCo.