LIC the smartest investor ?

Fund managers and FIIs might be liquidating banking stocks but one smart investor is making use of the low prices and using the opportunity to its advantage. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) which is a big ticket institutional investor in the Indian stock markets, over the last few days, was seen hiking its stake in two banks.

 

First was State Bank of India, where through open market purchase, LIC acquired additional 1.34 crore shares of the bank for Rs 1,484.12 crore. This buying was done between November 2008 and March 2, 2009. Post acquisition, LIC's stake in SBI now stands at 9.16%.

The other bank is Indian Overseas Bank. LIC has hiked in this bank to 9.96% after purchasing additional shares worth Rs 57.65 crore through open-market transaction. These shares were purchased between February 19 and March 3, 2009. 

Then LIC has hiked its stake in HDFC Bank to 7.105% and in ICICI Bank to 9.38%. It also hiked its stake in PNB to 10%. Prior to these open market purchases, LIC hiked its stake in GAIL to 10.10%. It also hiked its stake in Cummins India to 7.6% via open market purchases.

Apart from all these, LIC holds more than 10% stake in M&M (17.61%), ACC (17.48%), L&T (17.38%), Maruti (14.36%), Reliance Infra (12.99%), Tata Motors (10.27%), Tata Power (11.44%) and Tata Steel (11.56%). And it also reduced its stake in Hindalco, Hindustan Unilever, ITC and Ranbaxy.

 

So who is the smartest investor of all?