Retail investors raise bets on beaten-down Sterling & Wilson, Tejas Networks

Retail investors bet heavily on some of the market’s worst-performing stocks during the September quarter, including Sterling & Wilson Renewable Energy and Tejas Networks.

Over the past 12 months, shares

of Sterling & Wilson Renewable Energy have lost nearly 60% of their value, while Tejas Networks has suffered a similar decline. These two counters rank among the weakest performers in the BSE 500 index over the last year. Praj Industries, whose stock has fallen about 52% during the same period, also saw retail shareholding rise by 5.3 percentage points to 28.6%.

In comparison, the BSE 500 index — which represents nearly 94% of India’s total market capitalisation — has gained about 5% during the same period, while the Nifty50 has returned 7%.

Despite this sharp underperformance, retail investors — who collectively account for around 8% of India’s equity market — aggressively bought these stocks in the September quarter. Their holdings rose to 35.3% in Sterling & Wilson and 22.1% in Tejas Networks, respectively. Another stock that drew strong retail interest was Ola Electric Mobility, where retail ownership surged to 17.3% by the end of the quarter.

Data analysed by CNBC-TV18 shows that retail investors have consistently raised their stakes in all three companies over the past year. In Sterling & Wilson, retail ownership climbed from 19.5% in September 2024 to 33.5%, while in Tejas Networks it rose from less than 14% a year ago to 22.1%. In the recently listed Ola Electric, retail shareholding nearly doubled from 8.1% to 17.3% over the same period.

Beyond these, retail investors also raised stakes in Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Angel One, JK Lakshmi Cement, and Indian Energy Exchange, where holdings increased between 3 and 3.3 percentage points.

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In an interaction with CNBC-TV18 earlier this year, Nilesh Shah, Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra AMC, noted that Indian retail investors have matured, saying, “They are now buying on dips and selling during rallies. Investors are no longer too worried about market corrections — Indian retail investors have become ‘contra’ investors.”

However, this enthusiasm comes amid warnings about retail behaviour in the derivatives market. A SEBI study released earlier this year found that 91% of individual traders in the equity derivatives (F&O) segment incurred net losses in FY25, with collective losses touching ₹1.06 lakh crore — a 41% rise over the previous year. The average loss per trader climbed to over ₹1 lakh in FY25, from about ₹86,000 a year earlier.

Also Read: SEBI study: Retail traders lose over ₹1 lakh crore in FY25 on derivatives bets

Meanwhile, retail participation in India’s equity market continues to deepen. The number of demat accounts rose to 20.7 crore in September 2025, up from 20 crore in August, reflecting the growing influx of young investors from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Enabled by digital platforms and simplified onboarding, retail investors now account for more than half of daily trades — underscoring their growing influence on market dynamics.