At $1 bn, FII debt inflows in Oct record a 5-month high
Foreign fund inflows into the Indian debt market were at a five-month high of $1 billion in October, with investors expressing confidence in the government’s fiscal consolidation road map, a relatively stable rupee and hopes of interest rate cuts ahead. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought bonds worth $1.33 billion in October after nibbling at Indian paper for five months before that.
The average monthly FII investment in debt between June and August was $150-200 million, Sebi data show.
“Over the last two to three months, we have seen increased interest from high-quality investors such as sovereign wealth funds and even central banks who are buying Indian bonds, especially government bonds,” said Hitendra Dave, head of global markets, India, HSBC Bank.
The bulk of the buying — about $500-600 million — was accounted for by gilts, treasurers said. While the rest of the money went into corporate bonds, the sharp rally in short-term paper, which caused yields to come off by 10-15 basis points, prompted some profit taking.
At the monthly auction of investment limits on October 22, FIIs bid aggressively both for government and corporate bonds that did not have tenure restrictions, coughing up high premiums. Compared with the auction in August, when the premiums were 3 basis points, this time around they were 8 basis points.
At the July auction, premiums were 6 basis points. “Some positioning ahead of the RBI policy could have been the reason for the purchases,” Ashish Parthasarthy, head of treasury at HDFC Bank, said.
Moreover, treasurers said that FIIs needed
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