Holding(s) in Company

BHP Billiton Limited
28 March 2003

     BHP Billiton Limited is issuing this announcement to fulfil disclosure
  obligations arising from its secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange.

    The text of this release is identical to that issued by BHP Billiton Plc
                                    earlier.



Issued by: BHP Billiton Plc
To: Company Announcements Office                                     cc: New York Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange                                            Swiss Stock Exchange
Old Broad Street                                                     New Zealand Stock Exchange
London EC2N 1HP                                                      Johannesburg Stock Exchange
United Kingdom                                                       Paris Bourse (Euronext)
                                                                     Deutsche Bank
Company Announcements Office
The Australian Stock Exchange
4th Floor, 20 Bridge Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia



Date:             28 March 2003

For Release:      Immediately

Contact:          Ines Watson + 44 (0)20 7802 4176



                   Notification of Major Interests in Shares



The following notification was received on 27 March 2003 by BHP Billiton Plc in
a letter from Putnam Investment Management, LLC and The Putnam Advisory Company,
LLC dated 24 March 2003 relating to major interests in shares of BHP Billiton
Plc as at 24 March 2003:

'Notification of the Holdings under Part VI of the Companies Act 1985, as
amended (the 'Companies Act') on the Disclosure of Interest in Shares

Putnam Investment Management, LLC and The Putnam Advisory Company, LLC (together
'Putnam') are hereby notifying you of certain holdings of its clients pursuant
to the above legislation. Each Putnam entity is an investment advisor registered
in the United States pursuant to the Investment Advisors Act of 1940.

As of March 24, 2003 clients of Putnam hold beneficial interests in 98,302,640
BHP Billiton Plc shares representing 3.983% of the shares outstanding. The
shares are held by Putnam's clients for investment purposes only.'


BHP Billiton Limited ABN 49 004 028 077                 BHP Billiton Plc Registration number 3196209
Registered in Australia                                 Registered in England and Wales
Registered Office: 600 Bourke Street Melbourne Victoria Registered Office: Neathouse Place London SW1V 1BH United
3000                                                    Kingdom
Telephone [phone] Facsimile [phone]     Telephone [phone] Facsimile [phone]

              The BHP Billiton Group is headquartered in Australia


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange