India’s secondary market experienced a significant spike in large-scale trades in August, reaching its highest level in over a year amid a wave of major stake sales by promoters and private equity investors, supported by strong liquidity from domestic and foreign institutions.
India’s secondary market saw a sharp rise in large trades in August, with block and bulk deals reaching at least Rs 80,000 crore, the highest level in 14 months, according to TV9 Hindi and The Economic Times. The surge came after a strong run in mid-cap and small-cap shares, which left valuations elevated and encouraged promoters and private equity investors to sell stakes into a market with plenty of buyers.
Domestic mutual funds, insurers, pension funds and foreign institutions stepped in to absorb much of the supply. Market participants and analysts said the pattern is typical when liquidity is strong and share prices are firm: big holders can exit without causing the kind of disruption that smaller sales might trigger.
Among the biggest transactions, Centella Mauritius Holdings sold a 6.67 per cent stake in Aster DM Quality Care for Rs 4,451 crore, while Resilient Asset Management, controlled by Paytm founder and chief executive Vijay Shekhar Sharma, sold 3 per cent of One 97 Communications for Rs 2,949 crore. Other notable deals included SoftBank Vision Fund II Lightbulb selling about 2.6 per cent of Lenskart Solutions for Rs 2,888 crore, American Funds Insurance Series Global Growth and Income Fund trimming its holding in Avenue Supermarts for Rs 2,537 crore, and General Atlantic Singapore RR Pte selling shares in Rubicon Research worth Rs 2,300 crore.
The wider run of activity strengthened as the month went on. TV9 Hindi said that between May and August, block and bulk transactions totalled Rs 2.51 lakh crore, more than double the Rs 1.25 lakh crore recorded between January and April. It added that 2026 has already seen Rs 3.77 lakh crore worth of 9,754 such deals, compared with Rs 5.85 lakh crore across all of 2025. By contrast, Business Standard reported that block deals alone in August reached Rs 30,957 crore, a 14-month high since March 2024, highlighting that published tallies can differ depending on whether bulk trades are included.
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