Profit booking snips public stake in banks

Retail investors booked profits in most of the bank stocks during the quarter ended December 2004.

Evidence of this is available from the figures on shareholding pattern furnished by the individual banks to the stock exchanges.

Of the 28 public and private sector banks which have already reported these figures, the shareholding of retail investors in 26 banks declined by one per cent to four per cent in the October-December quarter of 2004.

Retail investors sold 121 million equity shares of 28 banks during the quarter after the prices of these shares appreciated by more than 100 per cent in a span of six months.

Retail investors sold over two per cent equity shares of Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of India, Dena Bank, Syndicate Bank, Union Bank of India and Vijaya Bank during the quarter.

In J&K Bank, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, IndusInd Bank and UTI Bank, the public shareholding declined by less than one per cent each.

In Andhra Bank, the public shareholding declined by as much as four per cent, from 22.39 per cent at the end of the September quarter to 18.43 per cent at the end of the December quarter. The bank's share price appreciated three-fold, from Rs 30 in May 2004 to Rs 90 in December.

In Allahabad Bank, the retail shareholding declined by 3.62 per cent, from 23.97 per cent at the end of the September quarter to 20.35 per cent at the end of the December quarter.

In Vijaya Bank, the public shareholding declined by 3.41 per cent from 24.18 per cent to 20.77 per cent in December quarter.

Retail investors sold 11.65 million equity shares of Bank of India during the quarter. The public holding in the bank declined by 2.39 per cent, from 14.45 per cent in the September quarter to 12.06 per cent at end of the December quarter.

In Dena Bank, the public holding declined by 2.14 per cent, from 19.79 per cent to 17.65 per cent in the December quarter. In Union Bank of India, the public shareholding fell by 2.03 per cent to 15.35 per cent (17.38 per cent) and in Canara Bank by one per cent to 7.05 per cent (8.05 per cent).

In ICICI Bank, retail investors held a 6.95 per cent stake at the end of the December quarter against an 8.13 per cent holding in the September quarter.

The public holding in Kotak Mahindra Bank stood at 15.44 per cent, down from 16.39 per cent. In UTI Bank it was 7.66 per cent, down from 8.21 per cent, and IDBI Bank, 16.90 per cent, down from 17.17 per cent in the same period.