FPI stake in top 200 stocks drops to four- year low in June quarter

The drop in ownership is partly due to FPI selling, but more importantly on account of increase in MF holding

Foreign portfolio investor (FPI) ownership in top 200 companies dropped to a four-year low during the June 2018 quarter. FPIs’ holdings in BSE200 companies fell to 23.8 per cent, down 80 basis points (bps) compared to the March 2018 quarter. Foreign stake has come off by 145 bps from the March 2015 level of 25.26 per cent. The drop in ownership is partly due to FPI selling, but more importantly on account of increase in mutual fund (MF) holding, following aggressive buying since the last couple of years. During the June quarter, FPI outflows stood at $2.7 billion compared to inflows of $2.1 billion in the preceding quarter. MF ownership in the BSE200 stocks rose to 6.42 per cent, up 210 bps in two years. During the quarter, they invested Rs 375 billion into domestic stocks. Meanwhile, the holdings of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) also fell from 6.56 per cent in March 2018 to 6.42 per cent in June 2018. Holdings of individual investors also dropped from 7.75 per cent to 7.58 per cent during the same period.