HDFC Bank, BSE and Tata Motors among top stocks mutual funds bought and sold during March crash

Amid the sharp market correction seen last month, domestic mutual funds turned aggressively active in equities, emerging as key counter-bidders to heavy FII selling and sharply reshuffling portfolios around names such as HDFC Bank, BSE and Tata Motors.

During the month, mutual funds deployed Rs 75,500 crore in Indian equities even as FIIs sold about Rs 1.1 lakh crore in the secondary market, underlining the growing role of domestic money as a stabilising force during bouts of volatility.

HDFC Bank Emerges as Top Buy Across Industry

India's largest private sector lender HDFC Bank, which was in the news for wrong reasons amid chairman Atanu Chakraborty's mysterious resignation, emerged as the single-largest addition across mutual funds in March, both at an industry level and within several top asset managers, according to data from Nuvama Institutional Equities.


Across pure equity schemes, HDFC Bank topped the large-cap buying list, alongside other heavyweights such as Reliance Industries, Infosys, and ICICI Bank, even as some managers simultaneously booked profits in select financials.

Also Read | FIIs dump 48 crore HDFC Bank shares as stock crashes 26% in March quarter

At the all‑industry level, HDFC Bank saw net mutual fund additions worth about Rs 15,800 crore, far outstripping other largecap peers. It also figured among the top additions for three straight months, alongside Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Titan Company, indicating sustained conviction despite near-term price volatility.

On an AMC-wise basis, ICICI Prudential MF, SBI MF, DSP MF, Aditya Birla Sun Life MF, and others all reported meaningful incremental exposure to HDFC Bank in March.

ICICI Prudential MF added about Rs 4,570 crore worth of HDFC Bank, while SBI MF bought roughly Rs 2,610 crore. DSP MF and Aditya Birla SL MF also listed HDFC Bank among their key buys.

Also Read | HDFC Bank's ex-chair Atanu Chakraborty breaks silence after abrupt exit, speaks of incongruities

Reflecting this broad-based buying, HDFC Bank ranked among the top holdings across large equity houses such as HDFC MF, ICICI Prudential MF, SBI MF, Kotak MF, Nippon India MF, Mirae MF, UTI MF, and others, reinforcing its status as a core portfolio stock.

BSE: High-Conviction Midcap Buy Amid Market Turmoil

In the midcap universe, BSE emerged as one of the most sought-after names for domestic mutual funds during the March selloff.

Nuvama data highlights BSE as a key midcap buy in the overall March portfolio analysis. Axis MF, in particular, made BSE one of its prominent additions, buying about Rs 560 crore worth of the exchange operator during the month. In the AMC-wise activity tables, BSE also appears among the top positions and active trades for select schemes.

This concentrated buying in BSE came even as the overall market remained under pressure, suggesting that fund managers used the correction to scale up exposure to financial market infrastructure plays with strong earnings leverage to volumes.

Tata Motors: Among Top Sells as Funds Booked Profits

While HDFC Bank and BSE attracted fresh money, Tata Motors moved to the other side of the mutual fund trade ledger in March.

In the large-cap bucket, Tata Motors Ltd is explicitly listed among the key selling candidates for mutual funds, even as they bought into banks and other index heavyweights.

The pattern points to profit-booking in Tata Motors, with fund managers reallocating capital towards financials such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, and Axis Bank, as well as select other sector leaders.

The stock-specific moves in HDFC Bank, BSE, and Tata Motors came against the backdrop of robust industry-wide equity inflows and record SIP participation, even as the benchmark index saw a double-digit correction.

Banks Dominate Sector Positioning

The heavy buying in HDFC Bank and other lenders also reflects the broader sectoral tilt of mutual funds.

According to the sector ownership snapshot for market-cap schemes, banking remains the largest sectoral exposure across most major AMCs, often at or above its Nifty 200 weight of 22.4% in the case of some houses, or only slightly underweight in others. In the top-holding lists, banks such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank dominate the top positions across most large fund houses.

This backdrop helped amplify the visibility of HDFC Bank as the headline stock in March’s MF activity, while BSE offered a midcap angle to the financials theme and Tata Motors provided a notable example of profit-taking amid the sell-off.