FII inflows cross $21 billion

With the road paved for additional reforms measures — after the UPA-led government won the vote on foreign investment in retail — and increased expectations of interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are on a buying spree, with year-to-date inflows into Indian equities crossing $21-billion mark — the highest since 2010 and second highest in the last 14 years.

According to BSE and Bloomberg data, FIIs pumped-in $1 billion into Indian equities during the last five trading sessions, after pumping in an equal amount of money in the last week of November on hopes the government will take more steps to boost economic growth and investment.

Data also shows that Indian market has attracted the highest amount of foreign flows compared with its Asian peers so far. South Korea stood second with $12.6 billion since January, followed by Japan ($9.94 billion), Taiwan ($4.13 billion), Taiwan ($4.13 billion), Philippines ($2.3 billion), Thailand ($1.89 billion) and Indonesia ($1.55).

Indian markets posted their third weekly gain led by sharp gains in real estate, oil & gas, capital goods, and power utilities’ stocks as foreign investors continue to bet on high beta stocks at a time when the government has begun its divestment programme and the primary market is also showing early signs of revival. On a weekly basis, Sensex and Nifty gained nearly 0.5% to their new highs in almost two years. However, it was

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