P-Notes investment slips to $ 31 billion in April

Investments into Indian shares through participatory notes (P-Notes), a preferred route for HNIs and hedge funds from abroad, slipped to Rs 1.87 lakh crore (over USD 31 billion) in April.

According to the latest data released by market regulator Sebi, the total value of P-Notes investment in Indian markets (equity, debt and derivatives) declined to Rs 1,87,486 crore at the end of April after hitting nearly three-year high of Rs 2,07,639 crore in the preceding month.

P-Notes, mostly used by overseas HNIs (High Networth Individuals), hedge funds and other foreign institutions, allow them to invest in Indian markets through registered Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), while saving on time and costs associated with direct registrations.

Besides, the value of P-Notes issued with derivatives as underlying, stood at Rs 1.27 lakh crore at the end of April 30.

However, investment into equity market through P-Notes have been rising in the past few months and analysts attribute the surge to hopes of a stable government at the Centre as well as stability in the value of the rupee against the US dollar.

The quantum of FII investments through P-Notes dropped to 11.7 per cent in April from 13 per cent in the preceding month.

Till a few years ago, P-Notes used to account for more than 50 per cent of the total FII investments, but their share has fallen after Sebi tightened the disclosure norms and other regulations for such investments.

P-Notes have been accounting for mostly 15-20 per cent of the total FII holdings in India since 2009, while it used to be much higher, in the range of 25-40 per cent, in 2008. It was as high as over 50 per cent at the peak of Indian stock market bull run for a few months in 2007.

FIIs, the key drivers of Indian markets, pumped in a net amount of Rs 9,602 crore (USD 1.6 billion) in the domestic equity market last month.

On the other hand, they pulled out a net Rs 9,185 crore (USD 1.52 billion) from the debt market in April.