FPIs invest ₹3,117 crore in Indian markets in January so far

New Delhi: Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) reversed their three-month selling streak in January with a net investment of Rs 3,117 crore in Indian markets so far this month.

Depositories data showed that they pumped Rs 1,857 crore into equities and Rs 1,743 crore into hybrids instruments during January 1-14.

At the same time, they pulled Rs 482 crore from the debt segment, taking the total net inflow to Rs 3,117 crore. Before that, foreign investors had been net sellers in Indian markets for three consecutive months since October 2021.

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, noted that "IT stocks boomed in January following strong results from large IT majors. This is likely to be repeated in the case of financials too."

According to Himanshu Srivastava, Associate Director - manager research, Morningstar India, private equity institutions have currently taken a cautious stance towards Indian equities.

With Union Budget around the corner, the FIIs would like more clarity and guidance from the government on its roadmap to economic growth before investing significantly in the country's capital markets.

Turning to the debt sector, Srivastava said foreign investment institutions have not invested significantly in Indian bond markets for a long time and the trend continues.

In other emerging markets, Shrikant Chouhan, Capital Research (Retail), Kotak Securities said FPI inflows were positive in all emerging markets, with the exception of the Philippines, which witnessed an outflow of $4 million.

Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia saw inflows of $1.793 million, $1.528 million, $445 million and $322 million, respectively.

“Amid the sharp rise in Omicron cases, elevated inflation and expectations of interest rate hikes by the US, FDI inflows to emerging markets are expected to remain volatile,” Chauhan said.

He added that when it comes to the Indian market, the upcoming union budget and earnings season will be the main things to watch.

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