Foreign portfolio investors infuse 4,800 crore on cooling crude prices

Foreign investors have pumped in nearly Rs 4,800 crore into the Indian capital markets in the last five trading sessions, after pulling out hefty funds in October, amid cooling global crude oil prices and rising rupee.

The recent infusion comes following a net outflow of more than Rs 38,900 crore in October, which was the steepest withdrawal in nearly two years. FPIs had pulled out over Rs 21,000 crore from the capital markets (both equity and debt) in September. Before that, foreign investors had put in Rs 7,500 crore in July and August.  

According to depositories data, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) infused Rs 215 crore in the equity markets during November 1-9, and Rs 4,557 crore in the debt market, taking the total to Rs 4,772 crore. 

"Continued fall in oil prices and drop in yield eased liquidity concerns," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services. Adding to the upbeat mood, GST collections in October crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore mark, after a five-month gap, on the back of festive spending and anti-evasion measures, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tweeted earlier this month.  

The Finance Ministry had said 67.45 lakh businesses filed Goods and Services Tax (GST) returns in October and deposited Rs 1,00,710 crore as taxes. However, FPIs have pulled out over Rs 95,000 crore from the capital markets so far this year. This includes Rs 41,900 crore from equities and Rs 53,600 crore from the debt markets.