Mutual Funds Fuel Record Growth, Foreign Investors Pull Back

Indian mutual funds are on a buying spree, holding a record 8.92% of stocks on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). This surge in domestic investment is pushing foreign investor share to an 11-year low.

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Bhakti Kothari
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Domestic mutual funds share in NSE-listed cos up by 8.92%

The share of domestic mutual funds in companies listed with the National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India set a new record on March 31 this year, rising to 8.92 per cent, according to Prime Database. The growth is an outcome of robust net inflows worth Rs 81,539 crore witnessed in the March quarter.

The March 2024 numbers eclipse an earlier record set on December 31, 2023, when the share of domestic mutual funds scaled 8.81 per cent, revealed Prime Database, India’s leading provider of data on the capital market.

The government’s share in the capacity of promoter grew to 10.38 per cent on March 31, 2024, marking a seven-year high, mainly owing to the steady performance of India’s public sector units, or PSUs. However, private promoters saw their share dropping to 41 per cent during the same period. This was a five-year low, data from Prime Database showed according to News18.

Net inflows from Domestic Institutional Investors, or DIIs, surged to Rs 1,08,434 crore, which means the share of DIIs grew to 16.05 per cent from 15.96 per cent that was recorded during the December-March quarter of FY24.

The share of Foreign Institutional Investors, or FIIs, however dropped to 17.68 per cent during the same fiscal period, marking an 11-year downslide. The FII share stood at 18.19 per cent on December 31, 2023.

Prime Database noted that the “widest gap between FII and DII holding was in quarter ending March 31, 2015”. During that period, the DII holding was significantly 49.82 per cent below the FII holding. The FII to DII ownership ratio has dipped to a record low of 1.10 per cent on March 31, 2024, from 1.99 per cent in the quarter ending March 31, 2015, the database added.

The increase in share of DIIs was the most in the energy sector, up from 6.7 per cent on December 31, 2023, to 7.77 per cent on March 31, 2024. The maximum decline happened in the information technology sector, from 9.25 per cent to 8.41 per cent during the same period.

In case of FIIs, the consumer discretionary sector saw maximum growth of share from 15.03 per cent on December 31, 2023, to 16.27 on March 31, 2024. The maximum decline for FIIs happened in the area of financial services, from 30.9 per cent to 28.39 per cent during the same period.

Meanwhile, the country’s biggest investor, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), saw its share growing to 3.75 per cent during the same period. The number stood at 3.64 per cent on December 31, 2023, Prime Database said.