India Stocks: Foreign Investors Buy ₹53,172 Crore in November
Foreign portfolio investors bought ₹53,172 crore of Indian shares from November 1 to 9, reversing a run of monthly selling. They also bought government securities, while their equity derivatives positions became less bearish.
Foreign portfolio investors bought ₹53,172 crore of Indian shares from November 1 to 9, reversing months of selling and signaling a renewed appetite for the market that could turn tide foreign investors seek in India. The buying also extended to government debt.
Investors purchased ₹7,480 crore of government securities through the Fully Accessible Route, which allows foreign investors to buy specified Indian government bonds. The equity inflows followed withdrawals in every month of 2026 so far.
Equity and bond flows reverse
Foreign investors withdrew ₹4.48 trillion from Indian equities between January and October. That selling weighed on the rupee, while the Nifty 50 was down 2 per cent over the previous year.
In October, investors withdrew ₹45,162 crore from shares; in September, they pulled out ₹44,013 crore. The November purchases reversed that pattern in the first nine days of the month.
Government bond buying also followed two months of net selling. Foreign investors withdrew ₹9,192 crore from government securities in September and ₹5,609 crore in October.
The November bond inflow was the highest monthly total since July, when investors bought ₹7,581 crore. Across the current financial year, net purchases of domestic debt reached about ₹52,939 crore, including November. Much of that total came in June, when they bought ₹41,774 crore.
Derivatives positions turn less bearish
Foreign investors’ positions in equity derivatives also shifted. At Monday’s close, their long-short ratio stood at 26.8 per cent, its second-highest level this year, behind 29.2 per cent on February 23.
The ratio had stayed below 15 per cent for most of the period since the Iran-US war began. Investors still held more short positions than long ones, but the balance was the least bearish since the conflict started.
The return of foreign capital coincided with gains in stocks, a stronger rupee and lower bond yields. Investors had previously favored markets offering higher returns, while a rally linked to artificial intelligence investments lifted markets in the United States and Asia excluding Japan.
The political outcome of the US midterm elections, in which Democrats won control of Congress, reduced perceived risk of further escalation in the West Asia conflict. Lower crude oil prices helped ease concerns about an inflation shock, a factor in the US interest-rate outlook.
Deven Mistry and Aanshul Agarawal of Motilal Oswal Financial Services said India’s fundamentals could support a stronger revival in foreign investor interest if the global AI trade moderates. They cited corporate earnings, valuations, domestic liquidity and India’s macroeconomic fundamentals.
“Given India’s healthy macroeconomic fundamentals, strong corporate earnings, a meaningful correction in valuations from their 2024 peak levels, and robust domestic liquidity, any moderation in the global AI trade could encourage a stronger and more sustained revival in FPI interest in relatively underperforming emerging markets such as India,” the analysts wrote.
