LIC’s $2 billion contrarian bet: 10 stocks the DII giant bought while the market bled

When Indian markets were bleeding through the March quarter, India’s largest institutional investor was writing cheques. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) deployed roughly Rs 18,500 crore (nearly $2 billion), scooping up shares in Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, TCS, Infosys, IRFC, HAL, and Hyundai Motor India, even as these stocks fell as much as 30%. It was a calculated bet by the country’s most consequential domestic buyer and the market is now watching to see if it pays off.

LIC added 2.32 crore shares in Bajaj Finance, spending an estimated Rs 2,167 crore even as the stock dropped 19% during the quarter. It bought Rs 2,153 crore worth of Bharti Airtel, Rs 2,143 crore of TCS, which fell 26%, and Rs 2,068 crore of Cipla. Most dramatically, it nearly doubled its stake in Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC), adding 18.72 crore shares worth Rs 2,044 crore as shares of the PSU rail stock crashed 30% to record the steepest decline among its top purchases, according to data from Prime Database.

The buying spree extended to Infosys, down 23%, where LIC added an estimated Rs 1,897 crore worth of shares, and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), down 21%, where it deployed Rs 1,819 crore. HCL Technologies, Hyundai Motor India and Maruti Suzuki rounded out the top ten purchases, with Rs 1,399 crore, Rs 1,390 crore, and Rs 1,374 crore invested respectively.
The pattern is deliberate and consistent as LIC bought into weakness across the board, with the average stock price of the 58 companies in which it raised holdings falling 12.24% during the quarter, according to the data.Also Read | India Inc promoters pour crores to buy the dip in these 18 stocks. Did you sell too early?

Yet even as it bought aggressively, LIC was simultaneously trimming positions elsewhere and the contrast reveals a more nuanced portfolio strategy than simple bottom-fishing. Its largest sell was State Bank of India (SBI), where it offloaded 4.22 crore shares worth Rs 4,626 crore even as SBI stock barely moved, falling just 0.29%. It also cut ICICI Bank by Rs 3,449 crore and reduced HDFC Bank by Rs 1,145 crore despite that stock falling 26% in a notable divergence from its buy-the-dip playbook applied to private sector peers like Bajaj Finance and Infosys. Coal India and Tata Steel, both of which actually gained during the quarter, also saw LIC trim its positions.

The overall portfolio impact of the market downturn was severe. LIC’s total holding in NSE-listed companies stood at Rs 15.11 lakh crore as of March 31, 2026 to record a decline of 13.63% over the prior quarter, per Prime Database. Its share by value in NSE-listed companies slipped marginally to 3.71% from 3.72%. However, when measured only against free-float, excluding promoter holdings, LIC’s share actually edged up to 7.42% from 7.39%, suggesting its buying was proportionally larger than the market’s overall move.
The percentage-stake increases tell their own story of conviction. Firstsource Solutions saw LIC cross the 4% threshold from below 1%, even as the stock fell 39% to record the sharpest decline among the insurer’s top buys by percentage. IRFC’s stake jumped from 1.10% to 2.54%. Cipla climbed from 7.69% to 9.59%. Hyundai Motor India moved from 2.24% to 3.04%, HAL from 2.45% to 3.11%. LIC also initiated or crossed the 1% threshold in Max Healthcare, Indian Hotels, and Persistent Systems, all of which fell between 7% and 22% during the quarter.Also Read | Nifty’s 2 pillars now facing structural headwinds: Ravi Dharamshi’s warning on IT & consumption

LIC’s largest holdings by value remain anchored in the country’s biggest names. Reliance Industries tops the list at Rs 1,21,548 crore, followed by State Bank of India at Rs 78,638 crore and Larsen & Toubro at Rs 59,684 crore. ITC, Infosys, TCS, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, and ONGC complete the top ten. By percentage stake, LIC remains the dominant institutional force in IDBI Bank at 49.24% and LIC Housing Finance at 45.24%, with double-digit stakes in ITC, L&T, Dr. Reddy’s, Tech Mahindra, and Coal India.

The March quarter buying follows a well-established LIC playbook of using market dislocations to accumulate quality at scale. With LIC holding going up in 58 companies whose average price fell 12.24%, the insurer has effectively increased its exposure to the market’s pain points. Whether that proves prescient depends on how quickly the stocks it loaded up on from IT majors battered by global uncertainty to IRFC caught in a PSU selloff recover from their worst quarter in years.

For now, LIC has done what it has always done when the market bleeds: bought more.

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