FIIs line up over $1 billion

Foreign institutional investors seem to be coming back with a vengeance to the Indian stock market. After a slow first quarter, they have lined up $1 billion investment, mostly in large-caps in the next month, say market sources.

"In the past few weeks, FII have been taking small bites into the market. And It seems quite possible that they could be taking an aggressive position as the clearance of the goods and services tax looks imminent in the monsoon session itself," said an investment analyst. In July, FIIs have made net investments of $1.2 billion (Rs 7,756 crore).

Dividend stripping is spreading fast

Declaring dividends to garner assets is becoming a serious issue in the mutual fund sector. A number of fund houses have started aggressively using this tool to attract assets under management. For example, a mid-sized fund house's assets jumped 10 times - from a mere Rs 60 crore to Rs 620 crore - in just one month. Another fund house's assets have risen from Rs 750 crore to Rs 2,500 crore. These funds have been paying significant dividends as well. Sectoral players say almost Rs 1,500 crore of dividend payouts have been done in the past few months. "If this issue is not tackled on a war footing, many other players will start using this to attract investors," says the chief executive officer of a fund house.

Who's next?

The impending end of UK Sinha's tenure as the Securities and Exchange Board of India chairman has people wondering who might be his successor. A number of names are doing the rounds but one is notably absent. A senior regulatory official who was rumoured to be next in line is no longer being spoken of as a possible successor. Some say political alignments have changed, others say he is being considered for another post.