For investors, tracking where mutual funds allocate capital can provide valuable market insights, as these institutions typically invest after extensive research and with strong conviction. In the latest quarter, mutual funds increased their stake in nearly 300 stocks within the BSE 500 universe. A few companies, including Sarda Energy & Minerals, Chennai Petroleum Corporation, and Waaree Energies, saw mutual fund holdings more than double. However, despite these sharp increases, mutual funds still owned less than 3% of each of these companies as of March 2026.

To identify higher-conviction bets, we narrowed the list further. We focused on companies in which mutual funds already held at least a 10% stake and had significantly increased their ownership compared with the previous quarter. The result is a shortlist of 10 stocks that not only enjoy meaningful institutional backing but also recorded substantial sequential growth in mutual fund ownership, potentially signaling rising confidence among professional investors. In terms of price performance, 8 out of these 10 stocks have delivered negative returns so far in CY26. (Data Source: ACE Equity).