India's mutual fund industry has significantly increased its share of public trading in the stock market, widening its lead over the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) for the fifth consecutive year. While LIC's share of free-float listed shares has fallen to 7.42% as of March 2026, the mutual fund industry's share has surged to 22.92% from 7.06% in 2012.
Citigroup has made an open offer to acquire 20 per cent stake in textile company JBF Industries Ltd at a price of Rs 46.50 per share.
Reliance Industries (RIL) is likely to be the lone bidder for Mangalore-based JBF Petrochemicals, which is up for sale after defaulting on bank loans worth Rs 5,000 crore. The lenders for the second time extended the deadline for submission of bids, which had ended on August 20, as several players, including public sector companies, were redrawing their acquisition plans, said people in the know. "There were several companies which had submitted their expressions of interest (EoIs) for the company but after due diligence decided to exit the race," said a source close to the development. "The new deadline for submitting financial offers is August-end," the source said.
Over the past one-and-half years, the number of stocks trading below their respective face value has increased 29 per cent after a sharp correction in stocks of small-cap companies.
Sun Pharma dipped 2% to Rs 615 on the BSE, its lowest level since November 9, 2016
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Market breadth continued to remain strong, with 1899 gainers and 674 losers on the BSEs.
Top 5 losers include Infosys, TCS, ITC, M&M and HUL.
