The midcap fund sold 4.17 lakh shares of Lenskart Solutions from its portfolio worth Rs 20.86 crore. In April, Lenskart Solutions received boycott calls and online backlash over alleged curbs on religious symbols in its in-store dress code.
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What happened in April
The company was strongly criticised for an outdated internal grooming policy circulated online, which appeared to restrict visible religious attire. The policy allegedly restricted employees from wearing certain religious marks, particularly bindi and tilak, sparking outrage and calls for a boycott.
Addressing this, Lenskart founder Peyush Bansal clarified that the viral document was an “outdated version” and did not reflect the company’s current stance.
“I want to speak directly that this document does not reflect our present guidelines. Our policy has no restrictions on any form of religious expression, including bindi and tilak,” Bansal had stated, apologising for the confusion and concern the situation had caused.
Lenskart also issued a public apology and released a standardised ‘In-Store Style Guide’ that allows employees to wear religious and cultural symbols at work. The new policy “explicitly and unambiguously” welcomes all symbols of faith carried by team members, including the bindi, tilak, sindoor, kalawa, mangalsutra, kada, hijab, and turban.
“If any version of our workplace communication caused hurt or made any of our team members feel that their faith was unwelcome here, we are deeply sorry. That is not who Lenskart is, and it is not who we will ever be,” the company said.
“At the same time, as a proudly Indian company, we recognise and celebrate the rich cultural diversity that defines our country. We care about professionalism and hygiene, and fully respect personal, cultural, and religious expression. This diversity is not just acknowledged but genuinely valued as part of what makes Lenskart the workplace it is,” the company wrote in its style guide.
Quant Mid Cap Fund portfolio change
The midcap fund also made a complete exit from NMDC and SBI Cards and Payment Services by selling 1.05 crore and 30.09 lakh shares, respectively.
Around 62.89 lakh shares of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) were added to the portfolio, worth the market value of Rs 116 crore. The exposure was increased in Reliance Industries by adding 10.79 lakh shares more to the portfolio, and the midcap fund had 21.38 lakh shares in its portfolio as of April 2026.
The fund offloaded 634 shares of Premier Energies from its portfolio and had 59.72 lakh shares in its portfolio in April. The exposure in 17 stocks remained unchanged, which includes Tata Communications, Lloyds Metals & Energy, Aurobindo Pharma, ICICI Bank, United Breweries, Oracle Financial Services Software (OFSS), Godrej Properties, Paytm, Nippon Life India AMC, Anthem Biosciences and JSW Infrastructure.
In April, the fund had 21 stocks in its portfolio against 23 stocks in March portfolio. The portfolio of this midcap fund is spread across 17 sectors, of which the highest allocation is in the healthcare sector of around 14.40%, followed by the Iron & Steel sector, where the allocation is 9.66%.
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The fund had an AUM of Rs 7,904 crore as of April 2026. Among the top 10 stock holdings, the highest allocation was in Aurobindo Pharma, where the allocation was 9.52%.
In the last three and five years, the fund gave a return of 16.97% and 17.06%, respectively. Since its inception, the fund has posted a gain of 12.91%. The performance is benchmarked against Nifty Midcap 150 – TRI and is managed by Sandeep Tandon, Ankit Pande, Varun Pattani, Ayusha Kumbhat, Yug Tibrewal, Sameer Kate, and Sanjeev Sharma.
According to the monthly release by the fund house, during the month, exposure to Oil & gas (+4.23%), Capital goods (+4.00%) and Consumer durables (+1.37%) was increased while Financial services (-6.10%), IT (-2.43%) and FMCG (-2.31%) were reduced.
Midcaps are entering a favourable phase supported by improving fundamentals, Quant Mutual Fund further said through its monthly release.
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