Life Insurance Corporation has increased its exposure in 18 Sensex firms, including ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Bharti Airtel, in October-December, with purchase of shares estimated to be over Rs 10,400 crore at current valuation.

LIC's holding declined in five other blue-chips in the third quarter from the level seen in the preceding three months, showed an analysis of the shareholding pattern of the Sensex constituents.

LIC did not hold any stake in Lupin in the past few quarters, while the insurer’s stake remained unchanged in five companies — Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Asian Paints and NTPC and the data for Dr Reddy’s was not available.

The insurance major has picked maximum stake in ICICI Bank during the quarter under review — 4.26 percentage points.

Besides, LIC holds 16.08 per cent in Larsen & Toubro (L&T), the highest it has among the Sensex firms.

At current share prices, LIC snapped up shares worth about Rs 10,415 crore in 18 Sensex constituents. At the same time, it sold shares worth about Rs 7,300 crore in five blue-chip companies, resulting in a net inflow of Rs 3,115 crore in all the Sensex firms together.

Individually, LIC raised stake in Bajaj Auto, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India and HeroMoto Corp among others, during the quarter. Notably, in most of the companies, LIC has raised its holding by less than 1 percentage point.

On the other hand, the biggest institutional investor in the stock market trimmed its holdings in Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, L&T, Cipla, Coal India and HDFC.

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