Bengaluru: Foreign investors continued to withdraw their holdings from the Indian equity markets. During the first 11 days of April, the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have sold Rs 48,905 crore through the exchanges taking the total FPI selling for 2026 to Rs 1,90,046 crore.
In the month of March, FPIs sold a record Rs 1,22,182 crore.
The energy crisis triggered by the conflict in West Asia, the potential impact of the crisis on the Indian economy and sustained depreciation of the rupee kept the FPIs on sell mode. Other markets like South Korea and Taiwan are considered more attractive from the FPI perspective since these markets are expected to deliver much superior earnings growth when compared to the modest earnings growth expected in India in FY27, said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited.
The sharp correction in the market after the war began has made the valuations fair; but not compelling buys, yet.
The surge in equity mutual flows to Rs 40,450 crore and monthly SIP inflows to Rs 32,087 crore in March bode well for the market. With such strong mutual fund flows into the market, FPI selling will not impact the market significantly.
“However, FPIs turning buyers in the market will depend on the situation in West Asia and crude prices. If there is de-escalation in the conflict and crude declines significantly, India’s macros will not be impacted materially. If the conflict prolongs India’s macros will be impacted. It would be unrealistic to expect FPIs to turn buyers in such a scenario,” Vijayakumar said.