FPIs out on shopping spree

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have turned net buyers in equities this financial year, having pumped in $7.2 billion. They were net sellers in equities and debt in 2015-16. Overall, FPIs have taken out $2 billion from debt market in 2016-17. They have highest exposure to financial stocks. Going by a Care Ratings’ report, the value of FPIs’ holdings in financial sector (including banks) is $75 billion, 22.2 per cent of their total equity assets of $338 billion. Besides financials, software services is the only sector where FPIs have double-digit exposure. These two sectors also have high weightage in Nifty index. More than a third of FPI flows come from investors domiciled in the US, followed by tax-friendly jurisdictions Mauritius, Singapore and Luxembourg. The two pies below show FPI inflows for FY17.