MUMBAI: Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), which is the nation’s largest investor with Rs 16 trillion in stock holdings across scores of companies, has been ramping up its investments in Tata Group companies since 2022, and has gone past the Rs 1 trillion mark now. It has over Rs 50.7 trillion across other asset classes, especially in government and corporate bonds.
There are 26 listed companies in the Tata Group, and of them, LIC has exposure to 14. Of these, 10 saw a jump in LIC holdings since June 2022, when N Chandrasekaran was appointed chairman of Tata Sons for a second time.
In value terms, TCS is the biggest bet of LIC in the Tata group with its 5.52 per cent stake valuing at Rs 41,960 crore and accounts for roughly 40 per cent of LIC’s exposure to the group. It is the second most valuable investment after Reliance, where its 6.8 per cent holding is valued at over Rs 1.3 trillion.
Tata Steel is the second largest in value terms with LIC’s 6.3 per cent stake valued at over Rs 14,000 crore.
LIC’s other top-notch investments include HDFC Bank (4.11 per cent), where it is the single largest investor; Coal India (11.58 per cent), which is an exception, as normally regulations don’t allow an insurer to own 9.99 per cent in any single stock; Axis Bank (7.88 per cent), and SBI (9.49 per cent) as of June 2026.
The investments are worth over Rs 1 trillion now, despite all Tata Group companies tanking since Chandra said he would not be seeking a third term on August 12, but had recovered since then, only to be tanking again after the Tata Trusts challenged his reappointment by the Tata Sons board as chairman for a third term.
In percentage terms, according to Prime Database, Tata Elxsi saw the biggest jump in LIC investments between June 2022 and June 2026, when its holding rose by 5.55 percentage points to 6.59 per cent from only 1.04 per cent, while that of Tata Motors CV rose by 4.29 percentage points to 5.08 per cent, and in Trent by 3.03 percentage points from zero in June 2022.
While investments in Tata Consumer Products rose by 2.94 percentage points to 8.65 per cent, in Tata Chemicals by 2.45 percentage points to 9.24 per cent, and in TCS rose by 1.58 percentage points to 5.52 per cent.
Tata Technologies rose by 1.35 percentage points, Voltas increased by 1.15 percentage points to 7.08 per cent, Indian Hotels rose by 0.96 percentage points to 2.64 per cent, and in Tata Steel it rose by 0.4 percentage points to 6.3 per cent.
On the other hand, its exposure to Tata Motors PV declined by 0.21 percentage points from 5.03 per cent; Titan is down by 1.09 percentage points to 2.17 per cent; Tata Power declined by 1.82 percentage points to 3.88 per cent, and Tata Communications saw the steepest fall of 3.37 percentage points to 0.85 per cent now.
Between 2020 and 2022, Tata Elxsi delivered explosive growth as its share price surged over 10 times from Rs 713 in April 2020 to touch a lifetime high of Rs 10,238 in August 2022, but has since lost a lot and is trading now at Rs 3,330.
Tata’s retail brand Trent also saw fresh investments. LIC had no stake in the firm in June 2022, which since then has risen to 3.03 per cent.
Trent also had a bull run between August 2020 and October 2024, and the shares surged over 10 times to Rs 5,200, but since then corrected to Rs 2,800. Tata Consumer Products also saw LIC’s holding rising by 3 per cent, and the insurer now owns an 8.23 per cent stake in the company.
