FIIs pour in Rs 17k cr in two weeks of Sept

Analysts anticipate that inflows would continue in the coming months on a slew of measures announced by the government

Continuing to bet on the government's reforms agenda, overseas investors have pumped in a whopping Rs 17,000 crore in the Indian capital market since the beginning of this month.

Net investments by foreign investors in the equity market were Rs 6,665 crore ($1.1 billion) from September 1 to 12, while they infused a net amount of Rs 10,432 crore ($1.72 billion) in the debt market during the period, taking the total to Rs 17,098 crore ($2.8 billion), as per the latest official data.

Market analysts maintain that overseas investors (Foreign Institutional Investors, sub-accounts or foreign portfolio investors) have been betting on the Indian market mainly on account of the reforms agenda of the new government at the Centre.

They anticipate that inflows would continue in the coming months on a slew of measures announced by the government.

Since the beginning of the year, foreign investors have made a net investment of Rs 1.98 lakh crore ($33 billion) into the country's securities market. This includes a net investment of Rs 85,000 crore in equities and Rs 1.12 lakh crore into debt market.

FIIs, the main driver of the equity market, have helped push up the benchmark BSE Sensex by 1.58% so far this month and is now moving above 27,000 level.

Strong inflows in the recent months have taken the cumulative net investments of FIIs into India to $204 billion, or Rs 9.88 lakh crore, in nearly 22 year period.

This is based on the data since November 1992 when the FIIs began investing into Indian markets and includes about USD 160 billion investments into equities and about USD 44 billion in debt markets.

From June, FIIs along with sub-accounts and qualified foreign investors have been clubbed together by market regulator Sebi to create a new investor category called Foreign Portfolio Investors.