Indian retail investors are estimated to have poured Rs 17,539 crore into 8 core Nifty bluechip stocks in the January–March 2026 quarter, making a sweeping contrarian bet on market heavyweights even as a sharp correction wiped billions from retail portfolio values. The stocks they bought most aggressively were, almost uniformly, the ones that had fallen the most.
HDFC Bank is estimated to have drawn the largest retail inflow of Rs 5,331 crore even as its stock fell 26.20% during the quarter, according to data from primeinfobase.com . ITC attracted Rs 3,634 crore in fresh retail money despite shedding 29%. Wipro, down 28.73%, saw retail investors add Rs 1,024 crore. Retail buyers also piled into Larsen & Toubro (Rs 2,364 crore, -14%), Reliance Industries (Rs 1,767 crore, -14%), Infosys (Rs 1,224 crore, -23%), TCS (Rs 1,213 crore, -26%), and Mahindra & Mahindra (Rs 982 crore, -20%). The data indicates a clear pattern of retail buying interest being tied to the depth of the fall.
