The monthly portfolio disclosures by mutual funds gives investors an idea of what the smart money is doing in the market, and the sectors and companies that are in vogue or have fallen off the radar for some fund managers. This screener shows stocks where mutual funds increased holdings. This month's data shows growing interest from fund managers in two state-owned companies, two recently listed companies as well as an IT and FMCG company, among others.

Power Grid Corporation of India - electrifying a power hungry country

Power Grid Corporation of India is a public sector company in the power transmission business owned by the Centre. As power was considered an essential service during the lockdowns, its operations were not significantly affected  during the pandemic in FY21. The power utility firm improved its performance during the year crossing an annual revenue of Rs 40,000 crore for the first time ever.

It posted its highest ever annual net profit of Rs 15,986.3 crore in FY21. According to the management Rs 10,300 crore of upcoming opportunity is present in interstate and intrastate works. In addition, transmission schemes are being planned in Gujarat and Rajasthan, with a total potential cost of around Rs 30,000 crore. A Detailed Project Report  (DPR) for transmission works at Leh (10GW) has also been prepared. With these being implemented in the coming quarters, this could be a ‘power’ full bet by fund managers.

Fund managers who increased their holdings

Manish Banthia & Sankaran Naren bought Power Grid through ICICI Prudential Equity and Debt Fund Growth scheme, while Deepak Agarwal & Hitesh Das through Axis Quant Fund Regular Growth scheme. Lakshmikanth Reddy, Anand Radhakrishnan & Mayank Bukrediwala added Power Grid to the Templeton India Equity Income Fund Growth scheme.

Equitas Holdings - A reverse merger into the bank on the cards

The spike in interest by fund managers in this company’s stock stems from the approval of amalgamation of the holding company Equitas Holdings and Equitas Small Finance Bank (SFB) by RBI. This merger paves the way for creation of a single entity complying with the RBI regulations, which require holding companies to reduce their stake in banks and SFBs to below 40%.

Equitas Holdings is the holding company of Equitas SFB with an 81.7% stake. RBI regulations have a lock-in for holding companies for five years. Equitas Holdings will complete this five year period in September 2021. Since Equitas SFB has a small finance bank license, Equitas Holdings will merge into Equitas SFB. Under the terms of the merger, Equitas SFB will issue 226 shares for every 100 shares investors hold in Equitas Holdings. 

Fund managers who increased their holdings

Some of the fund managers who bought into Equitas Holdings were Bhavesh Jain, Bharat Lahoti & Gautam Kaul through Edelweiss Balanced Advantage Fund Regular Plan Growth scheme, Shridatta Bhandwaldar through Canara Robeco Small Cap Fund Regular Growth scheme, George Joseph, Pradeep Gokhale and Rohan Korde through  ITI Small Cap Fund Regular Growth scheme and Chirag Setalvad and Anand Laddha for the HDFC Childrens Gift Fund scheme.

NMDC - Riding  the commodity cycle into higher profits

NMDC is a PSU engaged in iron ore production. In FY21, the company posted its highest ever annual revenues at Rs 15,721.7 crore and highest ever net profit at Rs 6,277 crore.

One of the key triggers for the rise in interest in this company is its plan to demerge its steel plant from the core mining business. NMDC has also seen a steep rise in production of iron ore in the last few months. With the numbers for July 2021 indicating its highest ever monthly production,  interest from fund managers is growing.

Fund Managers who increased their holdings

Sailesh Jain bought shares for Tata Arbitrage Fund Regular Growth scheme, Yogik Pitti, Harshal Joshi & Arpit Kapoor for IDFC Arbitrage Fund - Regular Plan - Growth scheme, Kayzad Eghlim, Priyanka Khandelwal & Nikhil Kabra added shares through ICICI Prudential Equity Arbitrage Fund Regular Growth scheme and Amit Sharma & Shrawan Kumar Goyal bought for UTI Arbitrage Fund Regular Plan Growth scheme.

Tech Mahindra - 5G contracts present wide growth spectrum

Tech Mahindra is the fifth largest Indian IT company in terms of market capitalisation. In Q1FY22, the company posted its highest revenue and profits in the last ten quarters. Revenues in Q1FY22 stood at Rs 10,484.9 crore and net profit at Rs 1,353.2 crore.

The company had strong deal wins in the past two quarters. It won deals worth $1,04 billion in Q4FY21 and deals worth $815 million in Q1FY22. Tech Mahindra is expected to be the biggest beneficiary with increasing penetration of 5G telecom services. Its strong play in network infrastructure services differentiates it from other Indian IT companies.  The management via a conference call with analysts mentioned that 5G is gaining traction in the cloud and 5G ecosystem for telecom companies with 60-70% of new deals signed involving 5G elements. This offers a wide spectrum for fund managers' interest in the stock.

Fund managers who increased their holdings

Funds manders who increased their holdings in Tech Mahindra were Manish Banthia & Sankaran Naren through ICICI Prudential Equity & Debt Fund Growth scheme, Shreyash Devalkar and Hitesh Das through Axis Flexi Cap Fund Regular Growth scheme, Sailesh Raj Bhan through Nippon India Large Cap Fund - Growth scheme and Sankaran Naren, Vaibhav Dusad & Priyanka Khandelwal also added shares to ICICI Prudential Technology Fund Growth scheme.

Britannia Industries - Premium packaged foods to generate better margins

Britannia Industries is the second largest FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) player in the packaged foods industry. In FY21, the company posted its highest ever annual revenues at Rs 13,449 crore.

The management indicated that it plans to incrementally hike the price of its products to offset a sharp rise in cost due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The company is also focusing on premium products which can contribute better margins. In Q2FY22, it plans to launch ‘Milk Bikis classics’ and ‘Nutrichoice’ products in the premium segment. There are also plans afoot to raise the share of e-commerce sales to 5% from 2% currently.

Fund managers who increased their holdings

Rajat Chandak & Priyanka Khandelwal bought shares for ICICI Prudential Flexicap Fund Regular Growth scheme, Manish Banthia & Sankaran Naren for ICICI Prudential Equity & Debt Fund Growth scheme, while Sailesh Jain added shares to Tata Arbitrage Fund Regular Growth scheme and Neelesh Surana added shares to Mirae Asset Tax Saver Fund -Regular Plan-Growth scheme.

Indraprastha Gas - Expansion into newer cities drives future growth

Indraprastha Gas (IGL) is a city gas distributor that provides services in Delhi and some parts of north India. The company supplies both PNG  (piped natural gas) and CNG (compressed natural gas) with CNG having a larger share. The volumes of both PNG and CNG have been increasing over the last three quarters till Q1FY22.

With higher petrol and diesel prices showing no signs of receding, the preference for CNG for personal mobility is a trigger for demand to rise. IGL could increase its sales volume from new areas such as Rewari, Karnal, and Muzaffarnagar. The company also recently won contracts for gas supply in Kaithal (Haryana), Ajmer, Pali, and Rajsamand (Rajasthan), and Kanpur, Fatehpur, and Hamirpur (Uttar Pradesh). 

Fund managers who increased their holdings

Indraprastha Gas found buyers in Manish Gunwani & Kinjal Desai for Nippon India Growth Fund - Growth scheme, Shreyash Devalkar & Hitesh Das for Axis Midcap Fund Growth scheme,  while the DSP fund house added to two schemes, with fund managers Rohit Singhania & Charanjit Singh via DSP Tax Saver Fund Regular Plan Growth scheme and DSP Equity Opportunities Fund Growth scheme.

Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) - A new entrant in healthcare catches the eye 

Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences listed on the stock exchange on June 28, 2021 and has seen buying interest from several mutual fund managers in the month of July 2021.

(KIMS) is the largest corporate healthcare group in Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Telangana in terms of number of patients treated and treatments offered. KIMS operates nine multi-specialty hospitals with an aggregate bed capacity of 3,064 spread across eight cities.

KIMS treatment costs across medical procedures are on an average 20-30% lower than other private hospitals, which gives it an edge over its peers. KIMS plans to add 1,000 beds to its overall capacity, which will include 300-350 beds from a hospital that the company intends to acquire in FY22. 

Fund managers who increased their holdings

KIMS found growing interest from Neelesh Surana & Ankit Jain via Mirae Asset Emerging Bluechip Fund Growth scheme, Anupam Tiwari & Hitesh Das via Axis Small Cap Fund Regular Growth scheme, Aniruddha Naha through PGIM India Flexi Cap Fund Regular Growth scheme and Samir Rachh & Kinjal Desai through Nippon India Small Cap Fund - Growth scheme.

Clean Science and Technology  - Green chemistry is the catalyst for growth

Clean Science and Technology (Clean Science) listed on the bourses on July 19, 2021, and with more specialty chemical makers entering the listed space, fund managers are willing to place their bets with the new entrants as well.  

Clean Science manufactures speciality performance chemicals and pharmaceutical intermediaries. Its focus is in developing newer technologies using in-house catalytic processes, which are eco-friendly and cost competitive. With the demand for green chemicals expected to grow globally over the next few years, the prospects for the company’s products appear bright.

Fund managers who increased their holdings

Fund managers from Axis mutual fund who picked up this stock from the secondary market as soon as listing for three of their funds  were Jinesh Gopani for Axis Long Term Equity Fund Growth scheme, Shreyash Devalkar and Hitesh Das for Axis Flexi Cap Fund Regular Growth scheme, Jinesh Gopani & Hitesh Das for Axis Growth Opportunities Fund Regular Growth scheme, while Amit Ganatra & Sankalp Baid bought shares for HDFC TaxSaver Growth scheme.