Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s latest stock pick gets cold shoulder from mutual funds, LIC

As per the BSE shareholding pattern, Rakesh Jhujhunwala holds 1.39% stake or 5,75,00,000 shares in SAIL during the April-June period. He did not hold any stake in the previous quarter, the data showed. However, mutual funds and government-owned insurance and investment corporation Life Insurance of India (LIC) trimmed their stakes in the PSU company.

Recent shareholding data showed that LIC cut its stake in SAIL by 0.8% to 8.43% during the April-June quarter from 9.26% in the March 2021 quarter. Mutual funds (MFs) also pared their stake marginally in the steel producer with MFs holding 5.59% stake in June quarter as compared to 5.67% stake in the previous quarter, as per BSE data. 

One of the largest steel-making companies in India, SAIL produces iron and steel at five integrated plants and three special steel plants, located principally in the eastern and central regions of India and situated close to domestic sources of raw materials. It also manufactures and sells a broad range of steel products. SAIL, under the Ministry of Steel, has an annual steel making capacity of about 21 million tonnes.

For the quarter ending June 2021, SAIL posted a consolidated net profit of ₹3,897.36 crore. The company had reported a net loss of ₹1,226.47 crore in the year-ago period. Its net income during April-June 2021 more than doubled to ₹20,754.75 crore, compared with ₹9,346.21 crore in the year-ago period. The company’s crude steel production during the quarter stood at 3.77 million tonnes and sales 3.32 million tonnes.

SAIL Chairman Soma Mondal had said that the performance during the quarter bears testimony to objective-driven strategy and resilience by the SAIL collective despite the adverse impact of the dominant second wave of COVID-19.