Large cap, mid-cap and small cap stocks that MFs traded in Mar-22

The top 3 stocks on the mutual fund sell list in Mar-22 viz. ITC, Hindalco and Sun Pharma are the stocks that have also given the most phenomenal profits. Among others, UPL saw some aggressive selling on plans of change in management. While Bharti Airtel was another stock that saw some full value selling by fund managers, the TCS selling was more of a buyback participation during the month. Overall, the large cap selling was centred around stocks that had appreciated sharply in the last few months and profits were being taken off the table.

Mid-cap stocks bought and sold by Mutual Funds in Mar-22

Before we get into the mid-cap fund buying / selling story, it must be remembered that we have used the same definition as given by AMFI, i.e. the stocks ranked 101 to 250 by market cap in the Indian market. Here is a quick look at the top mid cap bought by mutual funds.

Company Name	Net Quantity Bought	Buy Value (Rs. Crore)
Coforge Ltd.	29.68 lakh	₹ 1,334.54
Indian Hotels	558.78 lakh	₹ 1,223.59
Max Healthcare Institute	271.45 lakh	₹ 979.99
United Breweries	35.79 lakh	₹ 535.08
Bharat Forge	75.85 lakh	₹ 523.07
Sundaram Finance	24.84 lakh	₹ 476.72
Bandhan Bank	145.03 lakh	₹ 445.02

The mid-cap buys are normally very stock specific, unlike large caps that are more sectoral or macro driven. There were some obvious names. Coforge (formerly NIIT Tech) has been among the star IT stock performers and has been constantly in the buying list. Indian Hotels is a turnaround play as contact sensitive sectors get reopened. Bandhan Bank was largely on the back of the proposed deal to acquire the assets of IDFC Mutual Fund, with Bandhan Finance already shortlisted as the consortium lead to take over IDFC MF.

Here is a quick look at the top mid cap sold by the mutual funds.

Company Name	Net Quantity Sold	Buy Value (Rs. Crore)
NALCO Ltd.	323.91 lakh	₹ 393.77
Voltas Ltd.	29.68 lakh	₹ 372.31
Persistent Systems	7.41 lakh	₹ 322.33
Tube Investments of India	17.61 lakh	₹ 276.33
Jindal Steel & Power	55.83 lakh	₹ 267.33
L&T Finance Holdings	302.12 lakh	₹ 221.38
Shriram Transport Finance.	17.71 lakh	₹ 200.08

The mid cap selling by mutual funds was largely focused on metals and financial services. Just as Hindalco was among the big sells in the large cap space, NALCO has been among the big sells in the mid cap space. Interestingly, the mutual funds also did a good deal profit booking on Voltas and Persistent Systems, which have been among the finest mid-cap performers. The month of Mar-22 also saw some aggressive selling in financials like L&T Finance and Shriram Transport on expectations that a spike in yields would impact the borrowing costs of these NBFCs a lot more than the banks.

Small cap stocks that mutual funds bought and sold in Mar-22

Before we get into the small-cap fund buying / selling story, we have used the same definition as given by AMFI, i.e. stocks ranked beyond 250 by market cap in the Indian market. Here is a quick look at the top small cap stocks bought by mutual funds.

Company Name	Net Quantity Bought	Buy Value (Rs. Crore)
Vardhman Textiles	343.26 lakh	₹ 5,126.72
Rajratan Global Wire	32.72 lakh	₹ 468.30
Ramkrishna Forgings	68.66 lakh	₹ 332.98
GR Infraprojects Ltd.	18.54 lakh	₹ 268.68
MCX of India Ltd.	14.90 lakh	₹ 200.21
Radico Khaitan Ltd.	12.63 lakh	₹ 112.49

Normally, small caps do not evidence sectoral trends and are largely stock-specific. However, it must be noted that buying in small caps has been quite aggressive as mutual funds tried to dig for alpha amidst some sharp correction in small cap stocks. Now we turn to a list of major sells by mutual funds in the small cap space.

Company Name	Net Quantity Sold	Buy Value (Rs. Crore)
Century Plyboards (India)	26.88 lakh	₹ 176.00
KEI Industries Ltd.	14.63 lakh	₹ 164.52
VIP Industries Ltd.	21.40 lakh	₹ 148.23
RBL Bank Ltd.	106.55 lakh	₹ 140.40
UTI AMC Ltd.	15.21 lakh	₹ 139.24
GNFC Ltd	19.56 lakh	₹ 136.70
Mahanagar Gas Ltd.	11.60 lakh	₹ 87.38

To sum up the story, Mar-22 saw mutual funds indulging in some real churn; booking profits and also doing some value digging in mid cap and small cap stocks.