FPIs invest Rs 13,424 cr in June so far as Covid-19 cases decline

Overseas investors pumped in a net Rs 13,424 crore so far in June as risk-on sentiment improved with declining Covid-19 cases and hopes of early opening of economy.

Depositories data showed that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) invested Rs 15,520 crore in equities during June 1-11.

"The robust net inflows over the last two weeks could be attributed to the improvement in investor sentiments on the back of consistently falling coronavirus cases in the country and hopes of an early opening of the economy," said Himanshu Srivastava, associate director - manager research, Morningstar India.

At the same time, FPIs withdrew Rs 2,096 crore from the debt segment during the period under review.

The total net inflow stood at Rs 13,424 crore.

This comes following a net withdrawal of Rs 2,666 crore in May and Rs 9,435 crore in April.

For the inflows in June, VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, added that it appears from fourth quarter corporate figures that a cyclical recovery in Indian economy is imminent post the progressive unlock that is happening now. 

"The FPI activity was centred around IT, financial and energy sectors," noted S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities.

Overall, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index has lost 0.91 per cent this week, noted Shrikant Chouhan, executive vice president, equity technical research at Kotak Securities.

Giving an overview of other emerging markets, he said Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia and Philippines saw month to date FPI inflows of USD 188 million, USD 140 million, USD 138 million and USD 125 million, respectively. On the contrary, Taiwan saw month to date FPI outflows of USD 829 million.

As per Chouhan, going forward, FPI flows may remain strong in the medium term as India is at a cusp of growth revival path.

Interestingly, low interest rates, better exports outlook and revival in global economy is a good combination for India''s economic revival, he said.

Going forward, vaccination is expected to ramp-up, continuous decline in Covid cases, acceleration in consumer spending, healthy monsoon season and normalisation of overall situation could be expected, he added.