What the Big-3 Mutual Funds bought and sold in June 2022

14 Jul 2022 , 09:02 AM

This was true of active equity funds and passive funds. Among equity funds, all categories had seen net inflows in June 2022. The big question then is; what did the big funds deploy in the market? With over 40 AMCs in the market, we look at portfolio shifts of the 3 largest funds by equity AUM. The big-3 in India by equity AUM include SBI MF, ICICI Prudential MF and HDFC MF. But, first a macro AUM ranking.

How much of equities do the big boys manage?

Instead of consolidated AUM, we have compared top AMCs on Equity AUM.

Top Fund Houses ranked By equity fund AUM	Equity AUM (Rs crore) As on 30-Jun-2022
SBI Mutual Fund	₹ 377,010
ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund	₹ 209,770
HDFC Mutual Fund	₹ 180,590
Nippon India Mutual Fund	₹ 140,370
UTI Mutual Fund	₹ 138,100
Axis Mutual Fund	₹ 124,590
Kotak Mutual Fund	₹ 120,000
Aditya Birla SL Mutual Fund	₹ 100,850
Mirae Asset Mutual Fund	₹ 87,500
DSP Mutual Fund	₹ 59,250

Data Source: AMFI

In June 2022, equity fund AUM of most major funds ended lower compared to May 2022, despite positive flows. This fall was due to depletion in value of stocks during June. In terms of equity AUM, ICICI Prudential AMC has widened its gap over HDFC MF, while Nippon India Fund and UTI are moving up rapidly.

Why are the top-10 AMCs relevant? They account for 90% of overall industry-wide equity AUM. As a proxy, we focus on the buy and sell actions of the 3 biggest AMCs by equity AUM for June 2022. After all, it is the top AMCs that set the tone for equity markets.

Key equity portfolio shifts at SBI MF for June 2022

SBI Mutual Fund is the largest AMC by overall AUM and equity AUM. In fact, the equity AUM of SBI MF at Rs3.77 trillion is 79.73% higher than second ranked ICICI Prudential MF. The top equity holdings of SBI MF are Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Infosys.

Here are the major stocks that SBI MF bought and sold in June 2022.

June 2022 saw IPOs drying up, so it was all about secondary markets. Needless to say, fresh buys of SBI MF during the month of June 2022 was dominated by recent IPOs. SBI Mutual Fund invested Rs545.17 crore in Aether Industries, Rs25.17 crore in the eMudhra, Rs6.50 core in Metropolis Healthcare, Rs5.35 crore in Balkrishna Industries and Rs4.69 crore in Aarti Industries. In addition, SBI MF also made a small investment in IRCTC. Here are positions that saw accretion in June 2022. SBI MF added 1.02 lakh shares of Mahanagar Gas, 1.72 lakh shares of Laurus Labs and 1.78 lakh shares in Petronet LNG to its existing portfolio.

SBI MF exited several stocks totally. It sold total holdings worth Rs262.55 crore in 3M India, Rs8.58 crore stake in Birlasoft and Rs4.52 crore stake in Astral Ltd. It also exited its small stake in Alembic Pharma. Let us now shift to the stocks were SBI MF pared positions. During June 2022, SBI MF sold 3 lakh shares of RBL Bank, 1.67 lakh shares of Shriram Transport Finance and 0.25 lakh shares of Syngene International.

Key equity portfolio shifts at ICICI Prudential MF for June 2022

ICICI Pru AMC has been the second largest fund by overall AUM and also by equity AUM for more than a year. Its equity AUM at Rs2.10 trillion makes it an influential player in the equity space. Among the top equity holdings of ICICI Prudential MF are ICICI Bank, Infosys and HDFC Bank. Here is a quick look at what ICICI Pru MF bought and sold in June 2022.

There were no fresh buys by ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund in the month of June 2022, which is understandable considering that it has been a rather volatile month. Also, the headwinds did not really favour too much of value hunting in the markets. However, ICICI Pru MF did add to its positions in select stocks. For instance, it added 12,179 shares of Page Industries, 8,442 shares of Astra Zeneca Pharm and a smaller quantity of Patanjali Foods.

Let us look at the stocks that ICICI Pru MF exited in totality and where it reduced its stake. During June 2022, ICICI Prudential MF took total exit from Healthcare Global Enterprises, selling its entire stake worth Rs8.28 crore and its Rs2.58 crore stake in Voltamp. In addition, the fund also exited smaller holdings in Hawkins Cookers, Jindal Saw, JK Tyres, Kaveri Seeds, Nilkamal and PTC India. There were also stocks where ICICI Prudential MF pared holdings in June 2022. It cut Oil India by 12.39 lakh shares, Strides Pharma by 4.87 lakh shares and Alembic Pharma by 0.90 lakh shares.

Key equity portfolio shifts at HDFC MF for June 2022

HDFC Mutual Fund may have dropped to third position in equity AUM rankings, but at Rs1.81 trillion, its equity shifts still remain a key influencing factor. As of June 2022, the top equity holdings of HDFC MF were ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank, Infosys and Reliance.
Fresh buying by HDFC MF was seen in a number of stocks. It made fresh buys of Rs32.85 crore in Shriram City Union Finance, Rs5.38 crore in Sanofi India and Rs0.51 crore in Metropolis Healthcare. HDFC MF also used the market correction and lower levels in select stocks to buffer its holdings. It added 3.71 lakh shares of Laurus Labs, 2.91 lakh shares of Bata India and 2.04 lakh shares of Coforge India in June 2022 amidst the correction.

Let us turn to stock exits. HDFC MF fully exited a number of stocks. It sold its stake worth Rs7.75cr in Strides Pharma, Rs6.77 crore in Indiabulls Housing Finance, Rs5.95 crore in L&T Finance Holdings, Rs3.30 crore in Manappuram Finance and Rs0.88 crore in India Cements. In addition, HDFC MF also fully exited other stocks like Yes Bank, Polycab, PVR Ltd, Abbott India and Birlasoft during June 2022. In addition, HDFC MF cut positions in Praj Industries by 8.57 lakh shares, Granules India by 5.05 lakh shares and Astral by 0.28 lakh shares.

To sum it up, the Big-3 funds may not have been too enthusiastic about fresh positions, but they have surely used market volatility to churn their portfolios. The month of June 2022 was a virtual drought for IPOs, so action was entirely focussed on the secondary markets.