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Business Standard

Ownership shift in BSE-200: Promoters offload, domestic investors step up

The ownership pattern of India's top 200 listed companies is undergoing a quiet transformation. In the quarter ended March 31, 2025, private promoter holding in the BSE-200 Index declined to 37 per cent, down from 43 per cent in March 2021, reflecting sustained sell-downs by promoters and private equity investors, reveals a Kotak Institutional Equities report. At the same time, domestic institutional investors (DIIs)—comprising mutual funds, banks, financial institutions, and retail shareholders—have steadily increased their stakes, with their combined share rising by 430 basis points (bps) to 25.2 per cent in March-2025 from 20.9 per cent in March 2021. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have also reduced their exposure. Their holding in the BSE-200 has fallen to 20.2 per cent, from 24.4 per cent in March 2021. These data points reflect a change in ownership patterns of companies with significant promoter and private equity sell-downs. Why are promoters and insiders offloading stakes? Analysts at Kotak believe the rationale behind promoters and insiders selling stakes could be elevated valuations, business strategy, group and promoter debt, and rerating of the Indian market. Promoters have offloaded around ₹95,000 crore ($11 billion) in June alone. In Bharti Airtel, IndiGo, Vishal Mega Mart, Bajaj Finserv, and Hindustan Zinc promoters sold around $5 billion worth of shares in the first half of the calendar year 2025 (H1CY25). Also, insiders such as British American Tobacco (BAT) sold $1.5 billion in ITC, and non-strategic investors such as Reliance Industries (RIL) offloaded $1.1 billion in Asian Paints in H1CY25. Price-agnostic retail flow support DII buying DIIs continued to buy stakes in the secondary market primarily in H1CY25 because of steady, price-agnostic inflows from retail households into mutual funds. In CY2025 so far, domestic investors purchased $41 billion worth of equity. These flows have given domestic institutions the capital to remain active buyers, even as foreign investors turned net sellers. In June 2025, retail sentiment showed signs of improvement—direct retail investors became net buyers after three months of selling, and equity mutual fund inflows likely picked up after a brief dip. This shift in sentiment has been supported by improving returns in popular 'narrative' stocks and the rising net asset value (NAVs) of thematic funds. Additionally, as promoters, private equity investors, and FPIs sold significant stakes, DIIs stepped in to absorb the supply, deploying available capital to take advantage of the broader market realignment. In June 2025, DIIs bought $8.5 billion while others including private equity and promoters sold $10.5 billion.