Mumbai:
Foreign institutional ownership in India’s top 50 stocks is at an
all-time peak of 22% while the corresponding figure for domestic funds
is at 11.2%, a fiveyear low, an analysis of the latest disclosed
shareholding patterns has showed. During the October-December quarter,
FIIs net bought Indian stocks worth $6.5 billion, the third highest for
the period in the last 10 years. This pushed up foreign ownership to
this record peak, the report by Axis Capital, which analysis
shareholding patterns in 50 constituents of NSE’s nifty index, pointed
out.
“In contrast (to frenetic FII buying), domestic institutional investors’ (DII) holding fell to 11.2%, its lowest level since 2009, as they sold $4.7 billion worth of equities,” the report said. “However, it remains to be seen if FIIs will continue to flock Indian equities given anxiety over the pace of US Fed taper and uncertainty over electoral outcome in India,” the report noted.
It also noted that FII holding was at a record high in 15 of the 50 stocks, compared to 10 stocks in the previous quarter. Stocks that have record high FII holding include Bajaj Auto, Cairn India, HDFC Bank, HDFC, TCS and M&M, while DII holding is at a new high in NTPC and Coal India.
Gail, HCL Technologies and ONGC are among the three stock in which FIIs have consistently increased their holdings over past four quarters, while DIIs have increased their ownership in ACC and Coal India in each of the past four quarters.
On the flip side, FIIs have cut their holdings in Bharti Airtel in each of the last four quarters. Gail, HCL Tech, ONGC and Tata Steel are among those stocks in which DIIs have reduced their stakes in the last four successive quarters.
One of the interesting trends that Axis Capital analysts pointed out was that in most sectors in which the FIIs have large ownership, DIIs have low holding, and vice versa. For example, in the banking and financial services sector, FII holding in almost at 30% while the corresponding number for DIIs is 22.2%. Again in IT, FIIs ownership is 19.5% while DII holding is 12.6%. On the other hand, in the FMCG sector DIIs ownership is 14.5% while FIIs ownership is at 8.5%. Similarly in the engineering space, while the DII holding is 6.5%, FII holding is at 2.4%.
