At least 10 stocks in the portfolio of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) have more than doubled amid the ongoing volatile calendar year 2022. The benchmark equity index BSE Sensex has gained 4 per cent to 60,566.42 on December 26 from 58,253.82 on December 31 last year. A number of factors including the Russia-Ukraine war, outflows by foreign institutional investors (FII), rising interest rates and an increase in Covid cases at the fag-end of the year weighed on investor sentiment in 2022.
However, select players from across the sectors including banking, defence and consumer discretionary, among others have delivered robust alpha to the country’s largest institutional investors.
Data showed that Kirloskar Electric Company delivered the maximum 179 per cent return to LIC in 2022 till December 26. Shares of the company jumped to Rs 63.50 from Rs 22.80 on December 31 last year. The insurance behemoth held a 1.26 per cent stake in the company as of September 30, 2022. The insurance behemoth held a 2.87 per cent stake in Kirloskar Electric Company as of December 31, 2021.
Kirloskar Electric is a pre-independence era company established in 1946. With over seven decades of manufacturing experience, the company has evolved to become an integrated multi-locational manufacturing entity. It manufactures a wide range of products that cater to the core sectors of the economy like power, renewal energy, mining, irrigation and water supply, railways, road transport, sugar, steel, cement, oil and gas and allied industries.
PC Jeweller is next on the list. Shares of the company also moved 174 per cent up to Rs 73.80 on a year-to-date (YTD) basis. The insurance major kept its stake constant in the company at 1.49 per cent during the year till September 30.
The ongoing rally in public sector lenders further supported LIC’s portfolio in 2022. Shares of UCO Bank, The Karnataka Bank, Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank and The South Indian Bank climbed between 100 per cent and 146 per cent during the year.
Market watchers believe that the major factors influencing the performance of banking stocks are improvement in financials, asset quality, healthy provision coverage ratio and robust credit growth outlook.
Among the other major gainers, Bharat Dynamics (up 132 per cent), Adani Enterprises (up 117 per cent) and Standard Industries (up 100 per cent) stood among other major gainers in LIC’s portfolio.
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