20 small & midcap stocks that MFs lapped up with both hands in March

NEW DELHI: A host of midcap and smallcap stocks from varied sectors were on mutual funds' buying cart in March. They included stocks of financials, pharma makers, infra companies and hoteliers, among others.

Midcap and smallcap indices jumped 3-6 per cent in March and have continued their good show in April so far. A few mutual fund (MF) picks for the month included battered names such as GMR Infrastructure and Coforge (erstwhile NIIT Technologies), which are down up to 30 per cent year-to-date.

Data showed GMR Infrastructure was fund managers' top midcap pick for the month. Mutual funds held 7.93 crore GMR shares worth Rs 293 crore at the end of March compared with 5.34 crore shares worth Rs 202 crore at the end of February.

The institutional category increased its holding in midcap IT firm Coforge to 1.2 crore shares from 90 lakh shares on a month-to-month basis. MF holding in this stock amounted to Rs 5,340 crore at March-end against Rs 4,087 crore in February end. This stock is down 30 per cent year-to-date.

MFs held 4.07 crore shares of drug maker Biocon in March against 3.15 crore shares in February. Their exposure in the company stood at Rs 1,365 crore against Rs 1,099 crore in February.

Sundaram Finance, Jhunjhunwala-promoted Star Health, GR Infraprojects, Bandhan Bank, The Indian Hotels, Laurus Labs and Max Healthcare were some other midcap stocks, which saw MF buying in March.

The BSE Midcap index jumped 3 per cent for the month and has risen another 4 per cent in April so far.

The month saw inflows into equity mutual funds hitting a record high of Rs 20,300 crore. This was against Rs 17,800 crore in inflows in February. SIP inflows stood at Rs 12,300 crore in last month.

In the smallcap space, mutual funds entered Gulshan Polyols and held shares worth Rs 55 crore at the end of March. They also increased their holding in HEG, Stove Kraft, TV18 Broadcast, Supreme Petrochem and Intellect Design Arena. Domestic funds also bought additional shares in Avanti Feeds, Dodla Dairy, Garware Technical Fibres and Granules India, among others.

The BSE smallcap index gained nearly 6 per cent in March and nearly 5 per cent so far this month.


"Net inflows have been higher in the last four months at lower market levels. In the last few years, every sharp market fall has witnessed higher inflows indicating maturity among retail investors," ICICIdirect said in a note.