LIC’s 2025 scorecard: 64% stocks end in red, but 77 beat Nifty, including 2 multibaggers. Do you have one?

India’s largest institutional investor, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), ended 2025 on a rather sour note, with 64% or 184 of its portfolio stocks underlined in red. The conclusion was drawn from an analysis of 288 stocks in which LIC invests. Moreover, its own performance during the year was moderate: the counter fell by almost 6%.Of the 184 stocks that fell this year, 136 fell by double digits, between 10% and 90%. The strongest decline occurred in the small cap share VL E-Governance & IT Solutions, which fell more than 90%. The next biggest laggards were Flexituff Ventures International and Vakrangee, which fell 80% and 77% respectively. Others that fell more than 50% include Longview Tea Company, Quadrant Televentures, DCM Shriram Industries, Jai Corp, Industrial Investment Trust, Easy Trip Planners, Siemens, Triveni Glass and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles.

Widely followed stocks such as Reliance Communications, Punjab & Sind Bank (PSB), Oracle Financial Services Software (OFSS), REC, Tata Technologies, Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), Adani Total Gas, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, ITC Hotels, Info Edge (India), Reliance Power, ITC, Power Grid Corporation of India, IndusInd Bank, Infosys, Wipro and Adani Enterprises have fallen between 45% and 10%.

The losers’ pack includes 48 single-digit stocks, including names like Cipla, NTPC, Tech Mahindra and Persistent Systems.

Also read: Is 2025 a blip? Samir Arora says Nifty’s 11.8% USD CAGR since 1998 is higher than gold, S&P 500

Winners of 2025

The winners’ lot includes 104 stocks, accounting for 36% of the portfolio. Of these, 77 have delivered double-digit gains of up to 160%. Soma Papers & Industries with 119% and Kothari Industrial Corporation with 160% are the multibagger gainers from LIC. Meanwhile, Poonawalla Fincorp, UPL, Ashok Leyland, Shriram Finance, Laurus Labs, Navin Fluorine International, Tourism Finance Corporation of India, RBL Bank, Aditya Birla Capital and Hindustan Copper have delivered returns of over 50%, going up to 97%.

Widely followed stocks such as BSE, Bajaj Finance, Hindalco Industries, National Aluminum Company, Hindustan Zinc, Bharat Electronics, Hero MotoCorp, Vedanta, Bharti Airtel, Tata Consumer Products, Hyundai Motor India, Bajaj Finserv, Reliance Industries, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Tata Steel and Titan Company have also outperformed the benchmark indices.

While the Nifty has returned around 10% in the past year, the Sensex rose 9%.

Axis Bank, Grasim Industries, Punjab National Bank, Nestle India, Steel Authority of India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India and Asian Paints also posted handsome gains for the state-owned insurer.

Also read: January jinx weighs heavily on Nifty bulls: 80% failure rate in last 10 years linked to FII selling

LIC stock price trend

The fall in LIC shares in 2025 can be attributed to the mixed sentiment in the stock markets that prevailed throughout the year. Investors remained selective in their approach to PSU stocks. The underperformance has occurred despite decent profits.

The company’s consolidated net profit rose 31% to Rs 10,098 crore in the quarter ended September 2025, while revenue rose 5% to Rs 242,569 crore. In the first quarter, profit after tax rose 4%, while in the fourth quarter of FY25 it rose 38%.

The stock is currently trading below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.

Outlook for 2026

Market experts see the new year as a better version of the past year, with profits improving thanks to positive government steps such as VAT rationalization, income tax rebates and expectations of further interest rate cuts while inflation remains favorable.

Anuj Gupta, director of Ya Wealth Global Research, expects the Nifty to test the 27,000 target and end its seven-year losing streak in January this year. “Technically, it looks positive as it is forming higher tops and lower bottoms. There is strong support at the 24,000 and 21,000 levels. You can buy the Nifty on any dip around 25,000 to 25,500 with a stop loss of 24,000 and a target of 28,000 to 29,000. By the end of 2026, it may reach the levels of 28,500 to 29,000 tests,” he added.

(Data entry by Ritesh Presswala)

(Disclaimer: The experts’ recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times.)