FPIs stay bullish on India, pour Rs 5,400 crore in a fortnight

Continuing the bullish momentum, foreign investors poured in over Rs 5,400 crore into Indian equity markets in the first two weeks of this month on positive global cues and the passage of long-pending GST Constitutional Amendment bill in Parliament.

It follows a 4-month high inflow of Rs 12,612 crore in the preceding month. That was the highest net inflow since March, when FPIs had pumped in Rs 21,143 crore in the stock markets.

Indian equities have been witnessing positive inflow from foreign investors since March.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) turned net buyers of equities in March after pulling out a massive Rs 41,661 crore from the market in previous four months (November-February).

Experts have attributed the latest inflow to rate cut by Bank of England (BoE) and the passage of long-pending bill to facilitate the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.

BoE had cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points to 0.25 per cent, its first reduction since 2009, and also begun a fresh round of quantitative easing that had been on pause since 2012.

Sentiment got a boost after the long-stalled indirect tax reform GST Constitution Amendment Bill passed the Rajya Sabha on August 4 and in the Lok Sabha on August 8.

Moody's Investors Service has said that GST implementation will be positive for the country's economic growth without any significant impact on inflation.

According to depositors' data, the net investment of FPIs stood at Rs 5,413 crore in equities during August 1-12. However, they pulled out Rs 2,264 crore from the debt market, taking the total inflow to Rs 3,149 crore.

So far this year, FPIs have invested Rs 37,192 crore in equities while withdrawing Rs 6,987 crore from the debt market. This resulted in a net flow of Rs 30,205 crore.