Tata Motors topped the charts with the highest number of shareholders, crossing 67.5 lakh as of June 2025, about 3.4 times the count in June 2020 and over 15 times higher than in 2015, when it had just 4.1 lakh shareholders, according to data compiled by ETIG.
Yes Bank followed closely, with its shareholder base rising to 63.5 lakh in June 2025, nearly two times higher than in 2020 and 3.5 times what it was a decade ago, when the count stood at 17.99 lakh.
A high shareholder base means shares of a company are widely held by retail and institutional investors, making them liquid and easily tradable. In the past five years, the exponential growth in direct retail participation in the stock market has resulted in companies seeing a growing number of individual investors.
Telecom player Vodafone Idea saw its shareholder count jump to 61.8 lakh at about 6.5 times the 2020 level and nearly 27 times higher than in 2015, when it had just 2.3 lakh shareholders. Tata Steel, another Tata Group firm, registered a more than six-fold rise in shareholders over five years, reaching 58.2 lakh shareholders in June 2025.
Retail investors buy shares of these companies for a variety of reasons. A stock that’s been on the move is a momentum play; lowly-priced shares such as Yes Bank and Vodafone are perceived to be cheap compared to high-denomination shares. Beaten-down stocks often hold allure among retail investors, fascinated by turnaround stories. “Investors are buying not for what these companies are today, but for what they could become if their turnaround or transformation stories play out successfully,” said Prashant Tapse, senior vice president – research at Mehta Equities Ltd.
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The other notable increases in the number of shareholders have been in Tata Power, Reliance Industries, Reliance Power, NTPC and NHPC.
Companies like Reliance Industries, Reliance Power and SBI have historically been widely-held companies with a high degree of retail shareholder interest.
Back in June 2020, Reliance Power had the highest shareholder count at 37.7 lakh, followed by Reliance Industries (27.3 lakh), State Bank of India (13 lakh) and Tata Steel (10 lakh).
Many of these companies remain among the most widely held even in 2025, though their ranks have shifted. In June 2015, Reliance Power again topped the list, followed by Reliance Industries, Tata Motors (4.1 lakh), and Yes Bank (1.8 lakh).
A widely-held shareholder base does not say much about the value of the company but astute investors often steer clear of widely held stocks, especially during market peaks, because the risk-reward tends to become unfavourable. Many of these stocks tend to trade at elevated valuations, offering little margin of safety.
