The Childrens' Investment Fund, the $9.5 billion (6.5 billion pounds) London activist hedge fund, has liquidated its holdings in Indian state-owned banks, according to the Financial Times, in one of the biggest single selldowns by a foreign institutional investor in the country's stock market.

In the past three months, the fund has sold holdings in eight banks, from state-owned Bank of Baroda to Union Bank of India, the FT reported.

The positions were worth 45.8 billion rupees (620.7 million pounds) at end-December, according to market data.

Enam Securities, a Mumbai-based brokerage, was given the sole mandate to execute the sale, the paper said in an report dated March 20.

TCI bought the stocks three to four years ago, in the early stage of a rally in Indian stocks, the paper said. India's main benchmark stock index .BSESN has lost 7.1 percent so far this year after a 52 percent plunge in 2008 as global markets slumped.

Source: Reuters