Promoters of Sundaram Clayton, Spandana Sphoorty, PVR and Uflex entered the pledged-share club in the March quarter, according to a study by Kotak Securities. Besides, this quarter did not witness any company’s promoters releasing their entire pledged holdings.

“Our analysis of pledged holdings of BSE-500 stocks shows that the value of pledged-promoter (majority shareholder) holdings as a per cent of promoter holdings increased in the March 2022 quarter,” it said. The value of pledged-promoter holdings was ₹2.1 lakh crore as of end-March 2022, which is about 0.86 per cent of the total BSE-500 Index’s market capitalisation.

Value increased during quarter

Value of promoter-pledged holding as a per cent of promoter holding increased to 1.7 per cent in the March 2022 quarter from 1.6 per cent in the December 2021 quarter.

Promoters of 82 companies in the BSE-500 Index had pledged part of their holdings in the March 2022 quarter.

Only two companies — Suzlon Energy and Max Financial Services — had more than 80 per cent of their promoter holdings pledged.

Need for pledging

"We clarify that pledging of shares does not necessarily imply that a company or a promoter is under financial stress; banks (lenders) could have sought additional security in the form of promoter shares," Kotak Securities said.

Companies in which pledged promoter holdings declined included Sterling & Wilson, Aurobindo Pharma, Sobha, Lemon Tree Hotel and Apollo Hospitals.

Companies in the Nifty 50 with more than 5 per cent of pledged promoter holdings are: Adani Ports & SEZ (13.4 per cent), Apollo Hospitals (16.4 per cent), Asian Paints (11.1 per cent), IndusInd Bank (45.5 per cent), JSW Steel (15.8 per cent) and Sun Pharmaceuticals (5.6 per cent).

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