The Hindu Business Line : NRI stakes in Indian cos

Non-Resident Indians hold equity stakes in a fairly large number of Indian companies, data on shareholding patterns disclosed by the BSE show. About 87 companies in the BSE 100 index featured NRI holdings as of March 2008 and this number has increased from 80, three years ago in 2005.

Companies which featured the largest NRI stakes were Cipla (standing highest with 3.45 per cent) followed by Infosys, Adani, Asian Paints, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Ashok Leyland. The list of companies in which NRIs held stakes hasn’t seen much churn in a volatile market over the past year.

NRIs generally have tended to be more stable investors as compared to Foreign Institutional Investors and appear to have largely taken a “buy and hold” stance on the stocks they hold. However, seen over a longer period of 3 years, NRIs have shuffled their stock and sector preferences to some extent. About a fifth of the BSE 100 stocks have seen a significant change in NRI holdings in this period. Companies such as Indiabulls Financials, Grasim, Hindalco and United Phosphorus have seen a decline in NRI holdings.

Companies which made high profile IPOs during this period - Suzlon Energy, Indiabulls Real Estate, PowerGrid and Mundra Port have seen NRI participation.

However, NRI participation in Indian stocks is likely to be much higher than what is captured in the shareholding patterns disclosed to the exchanges, given the substantial NRI funds routed through offshore mutual funds, foreign institutions as well as domestic investors taking exposures on behalf of NRIs.

More Stories on : NRIs | Stocks

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