FII investment to cross $30 bn in Nov

The net cumulative investment of foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in the Indian capital market is set to cross $30 billion in the current month.

As of today the FIIs' investment in the debt and equity markets is worth $29.58 billion, $420 million short of the $30 billion mark.

The minor gap could be bridged in November itself as the FIIs have brought in $550 million in the last 10 trading days.

Since December 1993, FIIs have invested $28.70 billion (Rs 1,20,550 crore) in equities and $0.881 billion (Rs 4,205 crore) in the debt market. In the last 11 years, the FIIs have been net sellers only once, in 1998 when they pulled out $338 million from Indian capital markets.

Meanwhile, the FIIs appetite for Indian papers has reached a dizzy heights in the current calendar year, with an all-time high investment of Rs 31,254 crore, compared with Rs 30,459 crore in calendar year 2003.

Interestingly of the total investment of Rs 1,20,550 crore, more than 50 per cent investment has come in the last two calendar years alone.

However, FIIs' total investment (equity and debt) in 2004, is still short of Rs 4,500 crore or $ 1 billion compared with Rs 35,154 crore ($ 7.6 billion) recorded in 2003.

Although the net investment is yet to cross the $30 billion mark, the market value of the foreign institutional investors investment in Indian shares has already crossed the $40.8 billion mark (Rs 1,83,876 crore) considering the current exchange rate of Rs 45.04 per $. That means FIIs' investment in equities has appreciated by 53 per cent or by over $10 billion and Rs 64,169 crore in rupee terms.

Infosys Technologies tops in the FII investment basket with a market value of their investments at Rs 22,068 crore. With a market value of Rs 16,856 crore, FIIs' holdings in Reliance Industries ranks second in the FII investment basket, followed by ICICI Bank (Rs 11,337 crore), HDFC (Rs 11,163 crore), ONGC (Rs 7,479 crore) and Satyam Computer (Rs 7,336 crore).

In the current calendar year itself, FIIs have made investment of $6.68 billion (Rs 30,652 crore).

They have bought Indian equities worth $6.82 billion (Rs 31,254 crore), while they were net sellers to the tune of $138 million (Rs 602 crore) in the debt market.