Before the Indian stock market corrected significantly in April 2022, domestic investors kept pushing the Nifty 50 higher after every dip. This upward march allowed some insiders to offload their stakes in listed companies at high valuations.

From January 2022 to March 2022, there were significant offloads in five companies by insiders before the market crashed. These insiders include investors who owned stakes in companies that recently went IPO, as well as promoters, directors, and designated persons ('designated persons' are unnamed individuals who are insiders and may have access to price-sensitive information).

Mathew Cyriac, who had a large stake in MTAR Technologies through private equity firms Fabmohur Advisors LLP and Solidus Advisors LLP, sold 8.9% stake worth Rs 495.3 crore through the firms. Fabmohur Advisors sold a 7.4% stake worth Rs 407.4 crore in the last week of March, while Solidus Advisors sold a 1.6% stake worth Rs 87.9 crore in the last week of March 2022. Cyriac bought his 30% stake in the company for Rs 34 crore in 2017, so this was a very profitable sale.

In FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa), designated persons sold a total 0.2% stake valued at Rs 178.5 crore between Feb 2022 and March 2022.

Then comes Vishad P. Mafatlal, promoter of Navin Fluorine International, who sold a 0.48% stake worth Rs 94.1 crore in the second week of March 2022.

SBI Life Insurance’s joint venture partner BNP Paribas promoter sold 0.2% stake worth Rs 220 crore in last week of February 2022. However, it looks like the market was already jittery about the impending sale, as the stock crashed in early February before the sale was executed by BNP Paribas. Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals’ designated persons sold 0.29% stake worth Rs 71.5 crore from February 2022 to early April 2022.

Now that the markets are choppy, it will be interesting to see the moves insiders make over the rest of the year.