4 private insurers sell IRCTC, Coforge and MCX shares, buy Infosys, TCS, HDFC Bank in Feb

Four prominent private insurers, HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company Ltd and Tata AIA Life Insurance Company Ltd, together made selective portfolio adjustments in February, adding shares of large-cap IT and banking names such as Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), Infosys Ltd and HDFC Bank Ltd, while trimming holdings in stocks including Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX), Coforge Ltd and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC), according to data compiled by Nuvama Institutional Equities.

Among the top additions, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) saw the largest buying in value terms, with insurers increasing holdings by 17.19 lakh shares, taking the net purchase value to Rs 453 crore. These four life insurers held a total 86.62 lakh TCS shares worth Rs 2,282 crore at the end of February.

PB Fintech Ltd and Infosys Ltd were also among key additions. Insurers bought 28.80 lakh shares of Policybazaar’s parent, amounting to Rs 427 crore, while Infosys saw purchases worth Rs 343 crore after insurers added 26.40 lakh shares.

Other notable additions included Vishal Mega Mart, where insurers bought 2.75 crore shares valued at Rs 324 crore, and HDFC Bank, which saw purchases worth Rs 296 crore after the insurers added 33.31 lakh shares.

Additional buying was also seen in Samvardhana Motherson, Tube Investments of India, Timken India, Schaeffler India, DLF, Canara Bank and Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, with purchase values ranging between Rs 178 crore and Rs 275 crore.

On the selling side, the four life insurers pared stakes in exchange and financial stocks.

The largest reduction was seen in Multi Commodity Exchange Ltd (MCX), where insurers sold 32.98 lakh shares, translating into a net sale value of Rs 806 crore. The combined holding of the four life insurers in the exchange stood at Rs 1,612 crore after the reduction.

Coforge was another major trimming, with insurers selling 7.70 lakh shares worth Rs 658 crore. They also cut exposure to Titan Company, selling 9.44 lakh shares valued at Rs 409 crore.

Other notable reductions included Axis Bank (Rs 370 crore), APL Apollo Tubes (Rs 347 crore) and IRCTC, where insurers sold 30.15 lakh shares worth Rs 172 crore, leaving a residual holding of 1.5 lakh shares. Stake sales were also recorded in Sona BLW Precision, HDFC Life, FSN E-Commerce (Nykaa), Shriram Finance, Jindal Stainless and GE T&D India, with sales ranging between Rs 144 crore and Rs 169 crore.