Are FIIs back in the Indian market?

The investment by overseas investors into Indian stock market since the beginning of 2012 is set to cross the $10 billion level, out of which more than $1 billion was pumped in the first two weeks of July. The total investment so far in 2012 by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) in to the Indian equity market to U$9.82 billion (Rs 49,349 crore), according to data available with capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Watch out for Tata and Anil Ambani stocks

Overseas investors have dumped Reliance Industries shares worth an estimated Rs 1,000 crore in this fiscal, but have made net purchase worth an equivalent amount in thestocks from the Tata and Anil Ambani groups.

The holding of foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in Mukesh Ambani-led RIL fell from 17.7 per cent to 17.37 per cent during the current fiscal's first quarter ended June 30.

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FIIs remain net buyers in equities on Sep. 01

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained net buyers in equities worth Rs 5,268 million on Sep. 01. They bought equities worth Rs 27,300 million and sold equities worth Rs 22,032 million. Till Sep 01, they have been net buyers in equities worth Rs 5,268 million.

FIIs turned net buyers in the debt segment worth Rs 7,790 million on Sep 01. They bought debt worth Rs 11,592 billion and sold equities worth 3,802 million. Till Sep 01 they have been net sellers in debt worth Rs 19,670 million.

FIIs net buyers Rs 609cr in F&O on Thursday

The Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers of Rs 609.46 crore in futures and options segments on Thursday.

According to the data released by the NSE, FIIs were buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 831.88 crore while sold index options worth Rs 288.69 crore. They were net buyers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 193.38 crore while sold stock options worth Rs 127.11 crore.

FIIs buy net of Rs 2.34 bn equities on Apr 26

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained net buyers in the equity segment worth Rs 2,342.3 million on both the BSE and the NSE on Apr 26 as per provisional data available at NSE. They bought equities worth Rs 21,215.5 million and sold equities worth Rs 18,873.2 million.

While, Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs include banks, DFIs, Insurance and MFs) turned net sellers in the equity segment worth Rs 736.9 million on both the BSE and the NSE on Apr 26, as per provisional data available at the NSE. They bought equities worth Rs 8,219.6 million and sold equities worth Rs 8,956.5 million.

FIIs continue buying

Inflow of Rs 363.70 crore on 16 April 2010

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 363.70 crore on Friday, 16 April 2010, slightly higher than Rs 343.10 crore on Thursday, 15 April 2010.

FII inflow of Rs 363.70 crore on 16 April 2010 was a result of gross purchases Rs 2519 crore and gross sales Rs 2155.30 crore. There was an inflow of Rs 334.30 crore into secondary equity markets which was a result of gross purchases Rs 2481.90 crore and gross sales Rs 2147.60 crore. The BSE Sensex fell 48.08 points or 0.27% to 17,591.18 on that day.

There was an inflow of Rs 29.40 crore in the category 'primary market & others', which was a result of gross purchases Rs 37.10 crore and gross sales Rs 7.70 crore.

FII inflow in April 2010 totaled Rs 5,427.50 crore (till 16 April 2010). FIIs had bought equities worth Rs 19,928.20 crore in March 2010. FII inflow in the calendar year 2010 totaled Rs 26,071.90 crore (till 16 April 2010).

There are a total of 1,706 foreign funds registered with the Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

No plan to check FII inflows as of now: Govt

The Government has no plans to put a keep lid on overseas capital inflows but will monitor the trend closely, Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla said on Thursday. He told reporters in New Delhi that rising capital inflows is not a matter of concern as of now. He also denied that the Government is planning to cap overseas borrowings by local companies in a bid to check relentless foreign capital inflows. A business daily had reported earlier that the Centre was planning to auction quotas for external commercial borrowings (ECB) by Indian companies, which would increase the cost of raising such funds. "There is no such proposal," Chawla said.

With interest rates in matured economies near zero and no signs of central banks in these nations being in a hurry to withdraw the unprecedented stimulus measures, money has been flooding risky assets like emerging market equities, commodities and gold. India too has seen strong foreign inflows into its stock market this year with a steady improvement in its economy and corporate earnings. In order to prevent a repeat of 2007 when unbridled FII inflows made monetary management really tough for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Some countries, including Brazil and Taiwan, have already imposed certain controls, and some Asian central banks, including the RBI have adopted measures to curb a surge in real estate prices.

"As of now it is not a cause of concern. As the situation evolves we will see what needs to be done," Chawla said when asked if the Government is contemplating any move to curb the strong foreign inflows. FIIs have pumped in more than US$15bn into Indian stocks in 2009, after pulling out US$13bn in 2008, helping send the benchmark indices up more than 75%. The influx of foreign funds has also lifted up the rupee against the US dollar. On Nov. 18, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the Centre has the wherewithal to deal with any possible surge in foreign capital inflows, but added that they are not a major cause for concern just yet.

The Government is not considering imposing a tax to curb capital inflows, and wants the inflows to rise a little more, deputy chairman of the planning commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia was quoted as saying. "Capital flows are rising but we want it to rise a little bit more," Ahluwalia said. Asked if there was a possibility of India imposing a tax to curb capital inflows, he said, "I don't, certainly not". He said that foreign fund inflows we

FII, Insurance, MF Ownership

FII, Insurance, MF Ownership

FIIs turn net buyers in equities on Nov 28

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned net buyers in equities worth Rs 4,194 million on November 28. They bought equities worth Rs 21,576 million and sold equities worth Rs 17,382 million.

FIIs turned net buyers in the debt segment worth Rs 2,858 million on November 28. They bought debt worth Rs 2,858 million but did not sell any debt.

FIIs turned net sellers in derivatives worth Rs 3,990.7 million on November 28. They bought derivatives worth Rs 359,311 million and sold derivatives worth Rs 399,218 million.

FII Portfolio - Top 40 Stocks

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FIIs short selling!!

The Securities Exchange Board of India on Tuesday released the second set of data on securities lent overseas by FIIs between October 15 and October 17.

NTPC is on the top , with more than 21.19 lakh of its shares lent to overseas investors, the SEBI data showed.

The data was compiled from reports submitted by 33 of 34 participatory notes-issuing FIIs, said SEBI.

The regulator intends to study the data to check for correlation between overseas lending of these securities and domestic sale of shares by FIIs.

Analysts said it is too early to tell if such securities lending by FIIs leads to selling in the domestic market.

The stock price of NTPC, for instance, recorded a drop of more than nine per cent from October 15 to October 20, but analysts said there were so many factors at play.

The second stock on the list was Hindustan Unilever Ltd (15.75 lakh shares). This stock rose 3.50 per cent from October 15 to October 20.

Reliance Capital, of which more than 7.28 lakh shares were lent to overseas investors, fell more than 8 per cent during the period, while L&T, 6.32 lakh shares of which were lent, fell 9.15 per cent.

BHEL, whose shares were also lent, fell by close to 21 per cent between October 15 and October 20.

FIIs have been net sellers for Rs 48,368 crore or about $12 billion in 2008, according to the data on SEBI Web site.

SEBI had last week asked FIIs and their agents to provide information of Indian securities lent to entities overseas, which would have the effect of a short sale in the security in the Indian market.

It had announced it would give details of lending by overseas funds and their sub-accounts abroad on a consolidated basis twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, providing the first set of data on Oct. 17.
SEBI displeasure

Later on Monday, SEBI said it disapproves of the overseas lending/borrowing activity of FIls and the consequent selling pressure in the cash market in India. It also said that it has communicated its disapproval to FIls.

It has also warned that if necessary stronger measures will be taken.

There is some speculation in the market on what these stronger measures would constitute. A ban on short selling by FIIs was the most common speculation. In fact, part of the reason for the gain in stocks on Tuesday was attributed to SEBI’s implied warning to FIIs that it does not approve of short selling in Indian securities.

“In any free market there should be no ban on short selling, but a fool-proof mechanism should be worked out,” said Mr Manish Sonthalia, VP-Equity Strategy, Motilal Oswal financial Services.

While the regulator has indicated that they are still studying the data, they have already expressed their disapproval of overseas lending and borrowing of Indian shares, he said.

According to the SEBI Web site there are 1,541 registered FIIs as on October 21, 2008, while there are 4,735 registered sub-accounts

via BL

FII Activity

Dated	Purchase (Rs Crore)	Sale (Rs Crore)	Investment (Rs Crore)	Investment ($US mm)
14 Sep 2007	2458.50	2505.10	-46.60	-11.40
13 Sep 2007	2392.80	2110.90	281.90	69.10
12 Sep 2007	2370.80	1925.10	445.60	109.20
11 Sep 2007	1444.30	1507.10	-62.90	-15.40
10 Sep 2007	2435.10	1854.20	580.90	142.30
07 Sep 2007	2464.20	1841.10	623.10	152.60
06 Sep 2007	2703.00	2292.70	410.40	100.50
05 Sep 2007	2089.20	1458.80	630.40	156.00
04 Sep 2007	2514.70	1987.10	527.70	130.60
03 Sep 2007	3019.50	2342.20	677.30	167.60

FIIs' net sell Rs 1cr in F&O on Monday

The Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1.12 crore in the futures & option segment on Monday.

According to data released by the NSE, FIIs were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 217.19 crore and bought index options worth Rs 21.90 crore. They were net sellers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 248.46 crore while bought stock options worth Rs 8.24 crore.

As per data available on the Sebi website - FIIs were net buyers of stocks worth Rs 382.60 crore in the cash market on Thursday. Mutual funds were net buyers of shares worth Rs 45.30 crore on the same day.

FIIs exiting Sensex Stocks

Are foreign institutional investors beginning to lose interest in frontline companies? Though it may be early to draw an inference , latest shareholding data in 8 out of the 30 Sensex companies show a decline in FII holdings.

These companies include Gujarat Ambuja Cements (GACL), HDFC Bank, Hindalco, HDFC, Infosys Technologies, Larsen & Toubro, Maruti Udyog and Reliance Communications. “Foreign funds have been actively churning their portfolios in the past couple of quarters as outlook on many sectors has changed suddenly,” said an official at a foreign brokerage house. “Also, fund managers are restricting their bets to companies where they see a reasonably good chance of making money, as only few frontline companies have been participating in the rally,” he added.

In most of these companies, foreign fund houses have been trimming their holdings in the past two quarters. The fall in FII holdings in companies like Ambuja Cements, Hindalco, Maruti Udyog and HDFC Bank is significant, while that in Infosys Technologies, Reliance Communications , L&T and Housing Development Finance Corporation is less.

Market observers are not surprised that overseas fund managers have pared their exposure to stocks like Ambuja, Hindalco and Maruti. The proposal in the Union Budget to levy a dual excise duty on cement in a bid to tame prices, soured sentiment towards the sector. And while cement shares have been rising of late, they are still off highs seen in January this year. Hindalco’s expensive acquisition of Novalis did not go down well with the market, resulting in many investors exiting the stock. Growth in automobile sales has been slipping over the past few months, prompting a sour outlook for stocks in that sector.

A fall in FII holdings in L&T during the April-June quarter is a bit surprising . The stock has been the secondlargest contributor to the 1330-point rally in the Sensex since the beginning of 2007. Also, the stock enjoys favourable ratings by leading brokerage houses, given the bullish view on the capital goods sector. This is evident from the 65% rise in the stock price since the beginning of the year. This surge, without much support from foreign funds, shows that when a new set of overseas players bought into the stock, another set of existing FII shareholders have moved out.

A similar trend was witnessed in the case of HDFC. The stock has been among the best performers in the Sensex pack so far in 2007, despite many foreign funds pulling out.

SEBI - Foreign net buy at $1.7 billion

Securities and Exchange Board of India reported that foreign net buying of Indian equities rose for the third week and reached a new high $1.7bn in the week ended July 11.

FII in Real Estate may face 3 year lock-in

The Finance Ministry has proposed a three year lock-in for investments made by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in real estate firms through pre-IPO placements to check speculation in the booming sector.

Such a regulation, which brings FIIs on par with foreign direct investments (FDI), would require a change in FII norms and market regulator SEBI is expected to amend regulations in this regard shortly.

The regulator is expected to take up the issue of amending SEBI (FIIs) Regulations, 1995 at its next meeting scheduled in Mumbai on June 30, said official sources.

Finance Ministry has supported the views of Reserve Bank, which wanted a lock-in period for FIIs as part of its strategy to curb the rising speculations in the real estate sector, the sources said.

The government may also have to amend Foreign Exchange Management Act to put in place the lock-in, they said.

Earlier, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and SEBI had recommended that pre-IPO placements by FIIs must be treated as portfolio investment and should not face a lock-in.

Sources said Finance Ministry has rejected the views of DIPP and SEBI, and has asked the regulator to amend rules making it mandatory for real estate firms to have a three-year lock period for FII investments through pre-IPO placements.

In the meantime, real estate companies which had sought permission for pre-IPO placements with FIIs had been asked to wait as guidelines had not been firmed up, the sources said. Although FIIs investing in real estate sector through pre-IPO placement are likely to face a three-year lock-in, they may be exempted from other conditions such as minimum capitalisation and area development that are applicable to real estate FDIs, the sources said.

With rising property prices, the sources said, Finance Ministry and RBI want to put curbs on FII investments in the sector, claiming that a lock-in period would prevent building up of a possible real estate bubble.

The government has allowed up to 100 per cent FDI in realty projects with conditions like a three-year lock-in, minimum capitalisation of five million dollars and development of at least 10 hectares of land.

At least seven realty, construction and infrastructure companies, including Omaxe, have lined up offers to raise a total of over Rs 6,000 crore from the market.

Although RBI has put various restrictions on real estate firms to raise funds overseas, many companies mopped up funds by promised hefty returns to foreign investors through investments ahead of IPOs.

As per industry estimates, nearly half of the over four billion dollars of foreign investment that was pumped in the real estate sector la

SEBI - Short-selling by institutions to be allowed soon

Capital market regulator, the Securities & Exchanges Board of India (Sebi) said on 21 June it will soon issue guidelines on short-selling that will allow institutional investors to sell stocks without owning them.

“Individuals are allowed to shortsell, we are extending it to financial institutions, including mutual funds, soon,” Sebi Chairman M Damodaran told reporters on the sidelines of the Financial Planning Congress here.

The guidelines are being finalised and will be issued soon, he said without specifying the date.
The market watchdog at its board meeting held on March 22 had allowed short-selling by institutional investors, both domestic and foreign. However, the relevant guidelines will come out shortly.

The decision on short-selling, followed the announcement by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the Budget on February 28. The Sebi-appointed secondary Market Advisory Committee, had also recommended short-selling by institutional investors in October 2005.

It is believed that initially short-selling would be permitted only on those stocks in which derivative products are available.

The introduction of short-selling is likely to benefit the market in more ways than one. Apart from improving efficiency and liquidity, it will also help increase participation in a falling market since institutions will try to take advantage of such a market by going short, thus improving the market depth.

DLF IPO - FII, Domestic Investors

Even as financial institutions and foreign funds poured money for a slice of the DLF issue, India’s biggest realty firm just about managed to fill up the retail quota in the country’s biggest-ever IPO, which closed on Thursday.

Sources close to the issue said that with investment bankers extending the deadline(till 8.30 pm) for accepting subscription bids, all the categories were fully subscribed.

While on an overall basis, the Rs 9,000-crore issue was subscribed 3.5 times, the retail segment received a subscription of just 1.05 times. A banker to the issue told ET that most of the bids had come in at Rs 500, the lower end of the price band.

The qualified institutional buyers, which includes foreign funds (QIB) portion got subscribed by more than five times, the NII portion was subscribed 1.2 times. The real estate major had entered the capital market with an issue of 17.50 crore shares in the price band of Rs 500 to Rs 550.

The final numbers will be available only by Friday. But even if the retail segment remains undersubscribed, the issue will still get through as the guidelines allow the shortfall in the retail segment to be met by institutional investors, like it had happened in the case of Cairn India.

As the deadline was extended on the final day of bidding, names of many prominent financial institutions, domestic and foreign, were heard doing the rounds. According to sources, the QIB segment received more than $100-million bid each from prominent foreign institutional investors (FIIs) like Lehmann Brothers, JP Morgan, Deutsche, Nomura and the UAE-based Nakheel.

Domestic financial major and insurance behemoth LIC is also believed to have submitted a bid worth more than $100 million. Even GIC is believed to have put in a large bid.

Sources add that an European investor has also put in a bid of around $500 million, which is said to be one of the largest bids. There has been huge inflows through the participatory note route too, add sources. Also, as compared with initial expectations, Gulf-based investors have not bid aggressively. Investment bankers were initially expecting subscriptions of over 10 times.

When contacted Uday Kotak, vice-chairman and managing director, Kotak Mahindra Bank, said that he was delighted by the response to the issue in every category. Kotak Mahindra Capital Company is one of the book running lead managers to the issue

FIIs power DLF oversubscription

Foreign investors seem to have ignored warning signals on real-estate by placing bids for over Rs 10,000 crore for the mega initial share offer by Delhi property developer DLF Ltd.

This is more than the total initial public offering (IPO) size of Rs 9,625 crore at the upper price band of Rs 550 per share.

The IPO for 175 million shares was oversubscribed 1.28 times at 5 pm today. There are two more days to go for the issue close.

The retail portion, however, is yet to gather speed, being subscribed only 0.101 time.

Data available with the National Stock Exchange shows that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have placed bids for 198.7 million, out of the 104.44 million shares reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs).

In fact, the bids by FIIs are higher than the total size of 175 million. At the lower price band of Rs 500, the FIIs bids are valued at Rs 9,935 crore.

“Foreign investors have been putting money into the country’s realty sector. The valuation and risk associated with DLF will be more or less similar to that with the Sensex and the Nifty,” said Arun Kejriwal of Cris Research.

For foreign investors, DLF will be one of the few stocks that they relate with the future of their investments in a specific market, he said, adding, “That’s the reason it has attracted big foreign investment”.

The Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) portion, which forms 60 per cent of the IPO, was oversubscribed over two times.

Unconfirmed reports said a few global investors are believed to have placed bids worth $1 billion and most of the inflows have come in the form of participatory notes. Overseas funds investing in India have also put a large number of bids for the issue.

DLF is expected to join Futures and Options (F&O) trading on its listing. The upper band of the IPO values the company at $23 billion, which will be more than double the market valuation of Unitech, the current top real-estate firm by this measure.

“The realty sector is facing a few issues. But, there is no reduction in foreigners interest in this sector. Real estate is a significant asset class. Foreign players want to broaden their exposures to this sector,” Avinash Narvekar, partner, Ernst & Young said

Who's Buying & Selling

FIIs are overweight on Banks in a big way. They bought into Indiabulls & ICICI Bank.

Energy was sold as they sold Reliance and ONGC. BHEL was heavily sold as well.

Mutual funds were selling Banks - SBI and ICICI Bank in a big way

Mutual funds were buying ONGC, Reliance, TCS, Maruti. They also sold ITC, Hindalco, Tech Mahindra, Hero Honda and HDFC Bank

In Midcaps,FIIS bought stocks like Jaiprakash Associates, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Deccan Chronicle, Yes bank, GE Shipping, IVRCL, Videocon and Indian Hotels amongst others. FIIs were selling the smaller financial names like IDFC, IDBI, Centurion Bank, Fed Bank. Other stocks where they cut exposure were IPCL, Cummins, Punj Lloyd, Biocon, Moser Baer and India Cements.