It is often said in the stock market that when everyone is scared, a wise investor buys. The country’s largest insurance company and largest domestic investor LIC has probably followed this formula. LIC has played its biggest bet on the IT sector which has been creating an uproar in the market for some time now. While on one hand common investors and big fund houses are withdrawing money from IT stocks, on the other hand LIC has strongly increased its stake in leading IT companies.
LIC’s masterstroke against market fear
LIC is the ‘whale’ of the Indian stock market, even the slightest movement in its portfolio can decide the direction of the market. Prime Database data shows that when there was selling pressure in IT stocks in the December quarter, LIC quietly started buying. The company has made a huge investment of about Rs 3,136 crore in the country’s largest IT company TCS. Not only this, Rs 2,293 crore has also been invested in HCL Tech. Stake in stocks like Coforge has also been increased.
After this purchase, the share of IT shares in the total portfolio of LIC has now increased from Rs 1.82 lakh crore to Rs 2.17 lakh crore. In percentage terms, it has jumped from 11.32 percent to 12.43 percent.
Strong decline in IT shares
Actually, there is huge pressure on Nifty IT index for the last few weeks. This index has fallen by more than 16 percent in the last one month alone. The IT shares which were at their peak in December 2025 have now come down by 30 percent. On February 18 also, a decline of 1.23 percent was recorded in Nifty IT, in which big stocks like LTIMindtree, Wipro and Infosys were seen battered.
The biggest reason for this sell-off is considered to be ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (AI). Recently, AI company ‘Anthropic’ has launched such advanced tools that can easily perform the coding and software tasks for which Indian IT companies are known. There is a fear in the market that the arrival of AI will have a negative impact on the business model of IT companies.
Why kept distance from banks and companies?
While on one hand there is growing love for IT stocks, on the other hand LIC has moved away from the banking and energy sectors. To balance the portfolio, the insurance giant has sold shares worth about Rs 3,080 crore of state-owned bank SBI. Selling of Rs 1,528 crore has also been done in private sector HDFC Bank. Apart from this, Rs 1,173 crore has also been withdrawn from Bank of Baroda. The result was that the share of financial sector shares held by LIC has now reduced from 27.21 percent to 26.52 percent.
Not only banks, but profit booking has also been done in giants like Reliance Industries (Rs 2,367 crore) and L&T (Rs 2,442 crore). In the metal sector, stake in Hindalco, Vedanta and SAIL has also been reduced. Even LIC has reduced its investment in shares of Adani Ports and Maruti Suzuki. It is noteworthy that LIC has invested Rs 17.83 lakh crore in about 283 companies.
Disclaimer: This article is for information only and should not be considered as investment advice in any way. TV9 Bharatvarsha advises its readers and viewers to consult their financial advisors before taking any money related decisions.