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While institutions invested in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (NSE:ABFRL) benefited from last week's 6.0% gain, private companies stood to gain the most

Simply Wall St · 2d ago

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If you want to know who really controls Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (NSE:ABFRL), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 32% to be precise, is private companies. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Following a 6.0% increase in the stock price last week, private companies profited the most, but institutions who own 26% stock also stood to gain from the increase.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail.

See our latest analysis for Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail

ownership-breakdown
NSEI:ABFRL Ownership Breakdown December 24th 2025

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

We can see that Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

earnings-and-revenue-growth
NSEI:ABFRL Earnings and Revenue Growth December 24th 2025

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail. Birla Group Holdings Private Limited is currently the company's largest shareholder with 19% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 11% and 8.0%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 6 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited in their own names. However, it's possible that insiders might have an indirect interest through a more complex structure. It is a pretty big company, so it would be possible for board members to own a meaningful interest in the company, without owning much of a proportional interest. In this case, they own around ₹694m worth of shares (at current prices). Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 20% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 32%, of the shares on issue. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 22% of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail stock. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.