Heavy selling by FPIs not an exodus, yet hurting

FPIs have net sold shares worth $21 bn over four months through January end

- Ram Sahgal

MUMBAI: The noise around heavy selling by foreign investors in India masks a key caveat: there are no signs of a large-scale exodus. Yet, foreign portfolio investors or FPIs are also willing to exit at lower levels, which is amplifying the bearish sentiment.

FPIs have net sold shares worth $21 billion over four months through January end, per data from National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL). That's about 2.7% of their total equity holdings worth $782 billion as of January.

This actual selling accounts for just 14.2% of the $148 billion decline in their assets from a cumulative $930 billion as of September end. The rest is attributable to unrealized losses to their portfolios.