Foreign portfolio investors have invested Rs 41,483 crore in Indian equities so far in March after reversing the selling streak to become buyers in 2024.
Analysts said the reported FPI figures incorporate certain bulk trades made through stock exchanges and may not accurately reflect overall FPI activity.
Foreign investors have bought net Indian stocks worth Rs 17,278 crore till March 19 this year. According to data from the National Securities Depository, the primary market has seen an inflow of Rs 14,456.67 crore so far. Foreign institutional investors pocketed $186 million or $186 million. The shareholding in February was 1,539 million rupees.
A key feature of FPI investments over recent months has been their volatile nature. FPIs have been changing their strategies in response to changes in US bond yields, said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services. If inflation rises, FPIs may become sellers again on some days. โ
The key trends in the market in March are weakness in small and mid-cap stocks and resilience in large stocks. According to Mr. Vijayakumar, this has persuaded FPIs to cut down on selling and even buying limited quantities of large-cap stocks in sectors such as banking, telecom and automobiles.
Gerard van der Linde, head of Asian equities strategy at HSBC, said foreign funds did not leave India even as China started to rise in recent weeks. This suggests that investors are treating China and India separately.
In an interview with NDTV Profit, Linde remains positive about India and expects a gradual increase rather than a sharp rise.
FPIs are also injecting funds into the bond market. This momentum is primarily driven by the inclusion of domestic government bonds in the JPMorgan Bond Index and the Bloomberg Emerging Markets Index, as well as the government’s aggressive fiscal deficit target for 2024-25.
According to NSDL data, foreign inflows into Indian government bonds have reached Rs 53,595 crore so far this year, compared to Rs 19,837 crore in January and Rs 22,419 crore in February. It became Rs. March has so far recorded an inflow of Rs 11,339 crore.