New Delhi, Nov. 10 -- Small investors are becoming pickier about the stocks they own. In the September quarter, they reduced their stakes in nearly half of listed companies, even as Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and PC Jeweller drew more retail shareholders.

A Mint analysis of 4,729 BSE-listed companies showed retail ownership (those holding up to Rs.1 lakh in equity) declined in 49.4% of companies in Q2FY27, up from 47.5% in Q1FY27. The proportion recording an increase slipped to 42.4% from 43.2%, while 8.2% saw no change, according to ACE Equity data.

Vedant Gupte, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of investment platform Trackk, interprets the divergence as portfolio pruning. "We read the September-quarter data as a clean-...