New Delhi, April 7 -- India's banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector may have had a muted year on the surface, but a closer look tells a very different story. FY26, marked by global uncertainty, earnings downgrades and foreign investor outflows, did not reward broad sector bets-but it strongly rewarded stock-pickers.

A Mint analysis of 724 BFSI stocks shows that nearly one in five companies delivered strong gains despite weak benchmark performance. As many as 131 stocks, or over 18% of the universe, generated returns of more than 25% during the year. This stands in contrast to headline indices such as the Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services, which fell about 2.5% and 6.2%, respectively, and remained under pressure fo...