Tata Motors, yes bank, vodafone idea now the most held shares in India

Mumbai: Tata Motors, Yes Bank and Vodafone Idea have emerged as the most held shares in the country, to replace recent favorites such as Reliance Power, Reliance Industries and State Bank of India.

Tata Motors was at the top of the hit lists with the highest number of shareholders, with 67.5 Lakh from June 2025, about 3.4 times the count in June 2020 and more than 15 times higher than in 2015, when it only had 4.1 LAKH shareholders, according to data collected by Etig.

Yes, bank followed closely, with his shareholder base that rose to 63.5 Lakh in June 2025, almost twice higher than in 2020 and 3.5 times what it was ten years ago, when the count was at 17.99 Lakh.

A high shareholder base means that shares of a company are kept on a large scale by retail and institutional investors, making them fluid and easily tradable. Over the past five years, the exponential growth of direct retail participation in the stock market has led companies to have seen a growing number of individual investors.

Telecom player Vodafone Idea saw his shareholders jump to 61.8 Lakh at about 6.5 times the level of 2020 and almost 27 times higher than in 2015, when it only had 2.3 Lakh shareholders. Tata Steel, another company in Tata Group, registered a more than six-fold increase in shareholders for five years and reached 58.2 Lakh shareholders in June 2025.

Retail investors buy shares from these companies for various reasons. A stock that has been moving is a momentum game; Accurate shares such as YES Bank and Vodafone are considered cheap compared to shares with high denomination. Draining shares often keep allure among retail investors, fascinated by Turnaround stories. “Investors do not buy what these companies are today, but for what they could become if their reversal or transformation stories are successful,” says Prashant Tapse, Senior Vice President – Research at Mehta Equities Ltd.

Other popular names
The other remarkable increase in the number of shareholders has been in Tata Power, Reliance Industries, Reliance Power, NTPC and NHPC.

Companies such as Reliance Industries, Reliance Power and SBI have traditionally been widespread companies with a high degree of interest from the retail trade.

In June 2020, Reliance Power had the highest shareholders count on 37.7 Lakh, followed by Reliance Industries (27.3 Lakh), State Bank of India (13 Lakh) and Tata Steel (10 Lakh).

Many of these companies remain one of the most held even in 2025, although their ranks have shifted. In June 2015, Reliance Power was again at the top of the list, followed by Reliance Industries, Tata Motors (4.1 LAKH) and Yes Bank (1.8 Lakh).

A widespread shareholder base does not say much about the value of the company, but astute investors often stay away from widespread shares, especially during market peaks, because the risk reward tends to become unfavorable. Many of these shares tend to trade in increased valuations and offer little safety margin.