Mutual funds ramped up bets on the Mukesh Ambani-led company in October despite an unexpected drop in Reliance Industries (RIL) second-quarter profit. Two other top stocks picked by fund managers included private bank IndusInd Bank and IT bellwether Infosys. Their second-quarter results surprised Dalal Street.

The 10 most sought-after stocks by mutual fund managers in October also included HDFC, Dabur India, Tata Chemicals, ICICI Lombard, Zee Entertainment, Bajaj Finance and UltraTech Cement, according to Nuvama Institutional Equities.

IndusInd Bank, the most in-demand bank, posted a sharp 60.4% year-on-year profit jump to Rs 1,787 crore in the second quarter, with asset quality improving. Mutual funds bullish on bank stocks include DSP Mutual Fund, Franklin Templeton, HDFC MF, IDFC MF, Edelweiss MF, Kotak MF and Tata MF.

Those betting on RIL are JM MF, SBI MF, Mirae, Motilal Oswal MF and Quant MF. Likewise, Infosys is favoured by Aditya Birla Sunlife AMC, Axis MF, Invesco, SBI MF and Tata Mutual Fund.

At least six brokerages cut their price targets on the stock last month after a disappointing performance in its main oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business weighed on RIL’s overall earnings in the September quarter. Fund managers, however, seem to see it differently, buying 4.7 million company shares in October.

On the other hand, fund managers trimmed their stakes in Axis Bank, Coal India, Bharti Airtel, HCL Technologies, L&T, Sun Pharma, Bharat Electronics, NMDC, Cholamandalam and Voltas. SBI and Adani Enterprises were also sold off despite their recent stellar performance.

India’s largest mutual fund SBI MF picked Bajaj Finance, RIL, Infosys, ICICI Bank and Shree Cement last month. On the other hand, HDFC MF increased its stake in HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank and Bharti Airtel. ICICI Prudential is a major addition to ICICI Lombard General, Zee Entertainment and Maruti Suzuki.

Stocks topping the list for three consecutive months include HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, Alkem Labs, Balkrishna Industries, Yes Bank, Cummins India, Union Bank of India, Hindustan Copper, Eureka Forbes, Balaji Amines, Akzo Nobel and Easy Trip Planners.

LIC, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Vedant Fashions, L&T Tech, Aditya Birla Fashion, Aurobindo Pharma, Power Finance Corp, Mangalore Refinery, Sundaram-Clayton, Amara Raja Batteries, Quess Corp and Metropolis Health, from Nuvama data.