MUMBAI: Domestic funds now own a record 21% of India Inc’s biggest companies, while foreign funds, that have been selling stocks of Indian companies for nearly two years now, hold 17%, down from 21.5% a decade ago. It took domestic funds to net infuse funds worth about $166 billion in Indian stocks to offset $58 billion worth of net selling by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) over the past 22 months, a report by Motilal Oswal Financial Services said.The continuous selling of Indian stocks by FPIs for nearly two years has impacted the ownership structure for this group of investors. On the other hand, DIIs, especially the mutual funds that were flush with funds through the systematic investment plans (SIPs), absorbed the selling, providing a much-needed stability to leading domestic indices.Sustained domestic inflows have comfortably absorbed the cumulative FPI outflows over the past 22 months, the report said. During the same period, DIIs, supported by resilient SIP inflows averaging around $3 billion per month, provided stability to the market, it said.As a result, DIIs have further strengthened their hold on Indian equities, with their ownership in the Nifty 500 rising to an all-time high of 21%, while FPI ownership declined to 17%, MOFSL’s India Strategy report said. “This marks the ninth consecutive quarter of rising DII ownership, highlighting the growing role of domestic investors in India’s equity markets.”“This structural shift in institutional ownership, which has gained momentum since 2021, continues to strengthen as DII holdings scale new peaks,” the report said. Over the past one year, DII ownership rose 1.6 percentage points, while FPI ownership dipped 1.9 percentage points, it said.
