Mutual funds offloaded shares in three major listed Tata group companies in January 2017, the month in which N Chandrasekaran was appointed as the successor to interim chairman Ratan N Tata, according to investment advisory and research firm Morningstar Direct.

 Shareholding of domestic mutual funds dropped 15.39% in Tata Power with MFs selling 1.15 crore shares during the month. MFs sold 5.63% of their holdings in TCS (11.63 lakh shares) and 2.65% of Tata Motors (33.82 lakh shares).

“From last two months, Tata Power has witnessed biggest drop in the mutual fund holding after seeing an increase in the stake for the last seven consecutive months. In January 2017, the stock holding dropped by 115 lakh shares which resulted in 15.39% decrease in the shares held by the mutual funds,” Morningstar Direct said.

 Mutual funds bought heavily in Tata Motors in October and November, but with demonetisation the sales growth were impacted and the mutual funds turned out to be net sellers in the subsequent two months. However, Tata Motors DVR continued to remain popular among the mutual funds and kept increasing exposure in the stock, Morningstar Direct said.

According to the research firm, MFs bought into Tata Steel during January due to steady metal prices. “Tata Motors DVR continues to remain popular among the mutual funds and kept increasing exposure in the stock. We have also seen buying activity in Tata Steel, however the increasing trend in the number of stock holding has been from the beginning of the year as mutual funds started gaining comfort from the steady metal prices,” the firm said.