Foreign investors turn net sellers in India stocks amid Middle East crisis

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have turned net sellers in Indian stocks lately, as the ongoing geopolitical crisis in the Middle East likely pushed investors to take money off their portfolios. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), who continued to remain net buyers for the third month until a few days ago in April, have cumulatively sold stocks worth Rs 5,254 crore, National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) showed. "Coming to portfolio changes by the FPIs, this month FPIs have been big sellers in IT in anticipation of poor Q4 results. They were also sellers in FMCG and consumer durables. FPIs were buyers in autos, capital goods, telecom, financial services, and power," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

They had aggressively sold Indian stocks and turned net sellers in the Indian equity market in January 2024, before turning net buyers thereafter. In February and March, they were net buyers.
Firm GDP growth forecasts, inflation at manageable levels, political stability at the central government level, and signs that the central bank is done tightening its monetary policy have all contributed to painting a bright picture for the Indian economy.

India's GDP grew at a massive 8.4 per cent during the October-December quarter of the current financial year 2023-24, and the country continued to remain the fastest-growing major economy, and is poised to maintain its growth trajectory going ahead. The foreign portfolio sold aggressively in January after making a beeline to accumulate domestic stocks during the prior two months--November and December.

In December, they accumulated stocks worth Rs 66,135 crore. In November, the FPI inflow was Rs 9,001 crore, NSDL data showed. To put it into context, the entire year saw an inflow of about Rs 171,107 crore, and notably, over one-third of it came in December. The strong inflow of funds from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) had then supported the benchmark stock indices to march towards all-time highs. Before November, FPI participation in Indian stocks was lukewarm, and they had turned net sellers. They sold Rs 14,768 crore and Rs 24,548 crore in September and October, respectively. Before that, FPIs bought Indian stocks worth Rs 7,936 crore, Rs 11,631 crore, Rs 43,838 crore, Rs 47,148 crore, Rs 46,618 crore, and Rs 12,262 crore in March, April, May, June, July, and August respectively, data showed.