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More promoters have pledged their shares in during the pandemic to provide additional security on their loans from banks in the absence or run down of other assets.

According a report by Kotak Institutional Equities, value of pledged promoter (majority shareholder) holdings increased marginally to 2.09 per cent in December 2020 quarter compared to 2.03 per cent in the September 2020 quarter.

Promoters of 84 companies in the BSE-500 Index had pledged all or part of their holdings in the December 2020 quarter. The value of promoter pledged holdings was Rs 1.8 lakh crore at end-December 2020, which is about 1.04 per cent of the total BSE-500 Index's market capitalisation.

Only one company, Future Consumer, had more than 90 per cent of its promoter holdings pledged.

"We clarify that pledging of shares does not necessarily imply that a company or a promoter is under financial stress; banks (lenders) could have sought additional security in the form of promoter shares," the brokerage said in its report.

Among the companies, the highest increase in pledged promoter holdings was seen in Adani Ports & SEZ, Future Consumer and Stries Pharma Science.

Companies in which pledged promoter holdings declined included Dish TV, Lemon Tree Hotel, Wockhardt, Time Technoplast and India Cements.

Interestingly during the December quarter, no fresh promoter pledges were undertaken.

Companies in which promoters revoked/creditors invoked entire pledged holdings included Aarti Industries, Bliss GVS Pharma, Sun TV Network, Ulfex, UPL and V-Mart Retail.

The Companies in the Nifty-50 with more than 5% of pledged promoter holdings has among others Adani Ports & SEZ (38.2 per cent), Asian Paints (10.7 per cent), JSW Steel (22.1 per cent) and Sun Pharmaceuticals (9 per cent).

The report compared changes in pledged holdings between September 2020 and December 2020 quarters.