With FPIs on the sell side for a better part of the last few years, the action has shifted to the LIC and domestic mutual funds. Today, domestic mutual funds with AUM (assets under management) of more than ₹75 trillion are surely a force to reckon with. Each month, the investor community, by and large, closely tracks the stocks that mutual funds bought and the stocks they sold. Here we capture these insights at 3 levels viz. large caps, mid-caps, and small caps. We do not go fund-wise but look at the overall mutual funds macro picture and the stocks that were the most actively bought and the most actively sold. Here is a dekko! 

As per the SEBI definition, large caps refer to the 50 largest listed stocks by market cap. Let us start with large cap stocks where mutual funds added significant positions in September 2025. The mutual funds added 4,478 Lakh shares of Adani Power, 447 Lakh Shares of Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), 203 Lakh shares of Varun Beverages, 176 Lakh shares of Max Healthcare, 124 Lakh shares of Hindustan Zinc, 90 Lakh shares of Titan Company, 81 Lakh shares of IRFC, and 53 lakh shares of Interglobe Aviation (Indigo Airways). In addition, mutual funds also picked small quantities of Mazagon Docks and Adani Green Energy. On the buy side, the focus was more on infrastructure and defence. 

What about mutual fund selling in September 2025? The selling was a mix of portfolio revamp and booking out of lucrative stories like PSUs. There was heavy selling of 221 Lakh shares in Bajaj Finance, 155 Lakh shares of Tata Motors, 52 lakh shares of CG Power & Industrial Solutions, 30 Lakh shares of Zydus Lifesciences, 15 lakh shares each of Trend & Maruti, and 12 Lakh shares of Siemens Energy. In addition, mutual funds sold smaller quantities in Bajaj Housing, Torrent Pharma, and ABB India. The selling was predominantly in the stocks that had given solid returns in the last few months. 

Mid-caps are defined by SEBI as those companies ranked 101st to 250th on the market cap scale. Let us first look at mid-cap buying in September 2025. Overall, mutual funds added 8,549 Lakh shares of Vodafone Idea, 1,139 Lakh shares of Yes Bank, 639 Lakh shares of Canara Bank, 301 Lakh shares of GMR Airports, 116 Lakh shares of Bank off Maharashtra, 93 Lakh shares of HUDCO, 44 Lakh shares of Dalmia Bharat, and 37 Lakh shares of APL Apollo Tubes. Mutual funds also bought smaller quantities of GIC Re and Gujarat Fluorochemicals in September 2025. 

How about major mid-cap selling candidates in September 2025? Mutual Funds sold 566 Lakh shares of Suzlon Energy, 309 Lakh shares of NHPC, 180 Lakh shares of IndusInd Bank, 56 Lakh shares of AWL Agri Business, 31 Lakh shares of Hero Motocorp, and 11 lakh shares of HDFC AMC. In addition, September 2025 also saw smaller quantities of selling in IDBI Bank, Cochin Shipyards, Hitachi Energy India and Tata Elxsi. The buying was focused on the banking and financial stocks, largely as a play on the secular India story amid tariff fears. 

Let us finally look at small caps in September 2025, which are companies ranked beyond 250 in the market cap rankings. For September 2025, mutual funds added 606 Lakh shares of Sammaan Capital, 272 Lakh shares of Cohance Lifesciences, 80 Lakh shares of Asahi India Glass, 44 Lakh shares of Vintage Coffee & Breweries, 28 Lakh shares of Tilaknagar Industries, 24 Lakh shares of Blue Jet Healthcare, 17 Lakh shares of GPT Healthcare, and 15 Lakh shares of Network People Services Technologies. In addition, MFs purchased smaller quantities of EPACK Durable and Kingfa Science & Technology.  

What about MF selling in small caps in September 2025? Mutual funds sold 36 Lakh shares of Laxmi Organics, 23 Lakh shares of Tega Industries, 18 Lakh shares of Sterline & Wilson Renewable Energy, 17 Lakh shares of Inox Green Energy, 16 Lakh shares of Tata Technologies, and 12 Lakh shares of DCX Systems. In addition, September 2025 also saw mutual funds selling smaller quantities in Ramkrishna Forgings, Anupam Rasayan, Taj GVK Hotels, and Cemindia Projects. 

While large cap action and even mid-cap action in September 2025 showed some sectoral trends, the action in small caps was largely bottom-up and stock-specific.