LIC's Biggest Bets: A Look At Dalal Street's Biggest Investor's Portfolio

There is no bigger investor on Dalal Street than India’s biggest insurer, Life Insurance Corporation. As per the public data available with the bourses, the investment giant holds over 250 stocks with a market value exceeding ₹11 lakh crore. In this article, we take a look at some of the company’s biggest bets and how they’ve performed in the past year.

Reliance

The company’s biggest bet on the street is the biggest conglomerate in India. As of December 2023, LIC owns around 6.31% or 41.68 crore shares of the company. The massive stake is worth over ₹1.2 lakh crore.

ITC

Next in line, we have the cigarette-to-hotel conglomerate ITC. As of December 2023, the insurer owns a massive 15.21% stake in the company. LIC’s holding is currently valued at around ₹77,000 crore. The stock has not had that great a year at the bourses. In the past year, the stock has managed to go up around 6%.

Tata Consultancy Services

LIC’s portfolio also houses India’s biggest IT giant. As of December 2023, LIC owns around 4.84% or 17.51 crore shares of the company. Those shares are currently worth around ₹72,000 crore. The IT giant’s shares have seen some recovery in the past few months. In the past year, the stock has gone up around 15%.

Infosys

Following up is a fellow tech giant. LIC’s shareholding in Infosys is at 9.87% equivalent to 36.61 crore shares. The value of that stake is around ₹62,000 crore. Infosys shares have also recovered quite a bit in the past few months and also scaled new highs.

State of Bank of India

Following up the IT giants is the banking behemoth SBI. LIC owns an around 9.02% stake in India’s largest lender. The stake is currently worth around ₹61,000 crore. SBI has been one of the better-performing stocks in LIC’s portfolio especially among the big guns. In the past year, SBI’s share price has gone up over 40%.

Larsen and Toubro

The LIC portfolio also includes one of India’s biggest construction companies. As of December 2023, LIC owns 11.31% or 15.34 crore shares of the company. The holding is currently worth around ₹51,000 crore. Among LIC’s biggest bets, L&T has been one of the overachievers at the bourses in the past year. The stock has gone up around 54% in the past year.

IDBI Bank

Next up we have another public-sector bank, which is co-owned by the LIC and the government of India. As of December 2013, LIC owns a 49.24% stake in the company. The stake is worth around ₹48,000 crore. The lender has had a great year at the bourses. In the past year, the stock has gone up around 88%.

HDFC Bank

Next up is India’s largest private bank. As of December 2023, LIC owns an around 5.19% stake in the private lender. The value of these 34.09 crore shares comes up to around ₹48,000 crore. The insurer earlier this year, also got the RBI’s nod to increase its shareholding in the lender up to 9.99. The bank’s shares have been having a rough time at the bourses.

ICICI Bank

Following up is India’s second-largest private lender ICICI Bank. As of December 2023, LIC owns a 6.93% stake in the bank. The 39.09 crore shares of the bank are currently worth around ₹40,000 crore. The bank has had a decent run at the bourses — in the past year the stock has gone up around 17%.

Coal India

To conclude this list we have the mining giant Coal India. LIC holds a 10.60% stake in the company. The holding is currently worth around ₹31,000 crore. The stock, same as several other PSU stocks, has had an incredible year at the bourses. In just the past year, the stock has surged up over 120%.

And now here’s a comparison of how a hypothetical ₹1,000 investment in all these LIC portfolio stocks would have performed over the last year.

As you can see from the chart above, returns from Coal India, Larsen & Toubro and IDBI outperform all other stocks. However, all the stocks have given positive returns except for HDFC Bank, which has had a rough start to 2024.

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