State-owned insurance giant LIC has increased its exposure in 12 Sensex firms, including Coal India and Bajaj Auto, in the January-March quarter, with the purchase of shares estimated to be Rs 16,400 crore at current valuation.

The holding of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) had declined in 12 other blue-chip companies in January-March from the level seen in the preceding three months, an analysis of the shareholding pattern of the Sensex constituents showed.

As for the rest, LIC did not hold any stake in Axis Bank and Hindustan Unilever in the past few quarters, while the insurer’s stake remained unchanged in four companies — Tata Steel, BHEL, Vedanta and Tata Motors.

The insurance major has picked maximum stake in Coal India during the quarter under review — 4.65 per cent stake worth Rs 10,754 crore.

It bought over 28.47 crore shares, or 4.51 per cent, in the offer for sale of Coal India — almost half of the shares on offer in the stake sale of Rs 22,558 crore.

Besides, LIC holds 16.73 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 16,400 crore in total 12 Sensex constituents. At the same time, it sold shares worth Rs 6,730 crore in 12 blue-chip companies, resulting in a net inflow of Rs 9,670 crore in all the Sensex firms together.

Individually, LIC has raised its stake in GAIL, Infosys, Bajaj Auto, Reliance Industries, Hero MotoCorp, ONGC, NTPC, Hindalco Industries and Mahindra & Mahindra, among others, during the quarter.

On the other hand, the biggest institutional investor in the stock market trimmed its holdings in Maruti Suzuki, Tata Consultancy Services, Cipla, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC, ITC and L&T, among others.

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