FIIs pump Rs 1,200 cr in equities

Adopting a bullish stance on India, overseas investors have pumped over Rs 1,200 crore into the Indian equity market in March so far.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were gross buyers of shares worth Rs 15,362 crore, while they sold equities amounting to Rs 14,104.50 crore, translating into a net investment of Rs 1,257.30 crore (US$258 million) this month till March 9, as per Sebi data.

Since the beginning of 2012, FIIs have infused a total of Rs 36,827 crore (US$7.42 billion) into the Indian stocks. The net inflow was US$5.12 billion during February and US$2 billion in January.  Analysts attributed robust FIIs inflow in the domestic market to lack of alternative investment destinations, given the debt problems in European countries and slowdown in economic activity in emerging markets. The foreign fund houses have withdrawn Rs 1,444 crore in the debt market so far this month

This takes the overall net investments by FIIs into Indian debt markets to Rs 24,543 crore (US$4.8 billion) for this year. FIIs mostly stayed away from Indian equities in 2011. They flocked towards the debt market last year with a net investment of Rs 20,293 crore, while pulling out Rs 2,812 crore from equities.