This is not to suggest that the investors booked profits, as we do not know the holding periods and the levels at which they made entry.
Stake cuts in top 10 gainers
Logistics major Delhivery topped the gainers’ list with an impressive 87% return during the period under review, while retail ownership slipped 55 bps from the previous quarter. L&T Finance, which saw retail shareholding fall 37 bps was second in the pecking order with a 75% surge during the same period. Fintech player One97 Communications (Paytm) gained 67% even as the retail investors pared stakes to the tune of 66 bps, while Indian Bank and Laurus Labs rose 50% and 50.51%, respectively, while witnessing retail ownership declines of 55 bps and 11 bps.Other notable gainers include Kaynes Technology India (up 45%, retail down 101 bps), KEI Industries (up 43%, retail down 21 bps), FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa: up 43.56%, retail down 3 bps), Whirlpool of India (up 40.59%, retail down 16 bps) and IDFC First Bank (up 39.71%, retail down 105 bps).
Dixon Technologies (India) leads with the steepest decline of 187 bps in retail holdings, while delivering returns of 22%. It is followed by APL Apollo Tubes, which saw a 159 bps drop in retail holding, with returns standing at 15%.
Here’s the complete list:
Mid-tier IT company Mphasis saw retail holding slip by 18 bps, though the stock had maintained a positive stride just under 10% in the said period. Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services, Relaxo Footwears and Honeywell Automation India have posted high single-digit returns.
Other stocks in which the QoQ retail holding is down are UPL, Bharat Forge, Oil India, NHPC, 3M India, PI Industries, PB Fintech, Indraprastha Gas and LIC Housing Finance.
Midcap stocks had an impressive run in HIFY26 i.e. the period ended September 30, 2025, during which the BSE Midcap index surged 8%. They have only built their gains in October, extending their FY gains to nearly 13% as of October 21. In the same periods, the BSE Sensex returned 3.7% and 9%, respectively.
Retail sell-off in lagging stocks
Sixteen stocks were under the hammer on the back of sustained underperformance. For example, auto component major KPIT Technologies, which has slipped 12% in FY26 as of October 21, saw retail holdings down 28 bps in the September quarter. Likewise, Ipca Laboratories recorded a 14.64% drop in stock value and a 27 bps reduction in retail stake. Similarly, Balkrishna Industries fell 9.30%, Blue Star lost 8.08%, and Emami declined 6.15%, accompanied by retail stake cuts of 5 bps, 153 bps, and 4 bps, respectively.
Other underperformers included Ajanta Pharma (down 6.29%, retail holdings down 1 bps), L&T Technology Services (down 6.71%, retail holdings down 7 bps), Aurobindo Pharma (down 5.06%, retail holdings down 42 bps), Patanjali Foods (down 2.26%, retail holdings down 25 bps) and Page Industries (down 2.31%, retail holdings down 9 bps).
Blue Star and Voltas witnessed a more than 100 bps drop in retail holdings on the back of lacklustre performance.
Midcap outlook
In its latest note released on Thursday, WhiteOak Capital MF bats for investing in midcaps via the systematic investment plan (SIP) route for long-term growth. “If looked at 10 Years Rolling SIP Return, the average XIRR for SIP continued in Mid Cap Index is 17.43%, as against XIRR of 15.62% for an investor who started SIP in Mid Cap Index and switched based on the previous year’s best-performing index,” the note said.
(Data Inputs from Ritesh Presswala)
(Disclaimer: The recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times.)