The Eternal share price is in focus for more reasons than just its earnings. The MSCI India Standard Index rebalancing announcement is scheduled on August 7, and this may lead to Eternal shares seeing a potential outflow of $500 million. This is as per estimates by Jefferies on the basis of their current foreign ownership. Eternal’s foreign ownership has come down to less than 43% as of June from 52% last June, 2024. This, as per international brokerage house, Jefferies, may “attract a weight cut of 50 bps in the subsequent MSCI rebalance leading to expected outflows.”
What’s Eternal’s current foreign ownership, and what happens next?
As of June 2025, the FPI holding in Eternal was at 42.79%. As per the MSCI calculation, this translates into a foreign room of 13.56% and may attract a weight cut as a result. Eternal has capped its foreign ownership limit at 49.5%. Jefferies explained that “While over time, the stock will trade on a basis of earnings,” there are some technical aspects that need to be highlighted.
Jefferies on foreign ownership in Eternal shares: 5 key factors to watch
-If the foreign holdings in the stock move above 46.5% (red flag mark), the stock will feature in the FPI Red flag list. As per that, the FPI shareholdings data for the share price will be available on a daily basis
-If Foreign holdings cross the 47.65% mark, foreign room will be less than 3.75%, and the stock will be removed from MSCI in 2 business days.
If this happens, Jefferies estimates “a potential outflow of greater than $1 billion on an immediate basis.”
-If foreign holdings breach 49.5% mark, then the concerned FPI/FPIs will have to unwind its excess position
-If Eternal shares are excluded from MSCI due to the foreign room being lower than 3.75%, a re-inclusion in MSCI can happen only after 12 months. This is also subject to the foreign room opening up again to the requisite level.
Foreign ownership in Eternal share price dwindling over last 1 year
Over the last 1 year, foreign ownership in Eternal shares has been slipping. Foreign ownership was at 54.82% in June 2024. The next quarter saw it falling to 53.33% in September 2024 and further falling below the 50% mark to 48.02% in December 2024. In March this year, foreign ownership in the company came down to 44.88% and slipped even more to the current level below 43%.
Jefferies’ big bet on Eternal
Overall, Jefferies believes that “Eternal is a play on the growing food services industry in India and increasing adoption of digital commerce.” With only 23 million monthly transacting users currently, “Eternal’s food delivery has a long runway for customer acquisition and revenue growth,” they added. According to them, Blinkit is the market leader in the fast-growing quick-commerce space and is “set to see sharp margin improvement in the steady state.”