FIIs infuse `22,000 crore so far this month

Continuing to bet on the reforms agenda of the government, overseas investors have poured in a little over Rs 22,000 crore in the Indian markets since the beginning of the month.

The net investments by foreign investors in equity market stood at Rs 10,755 crore ($1.8 billion) till 19 July, while for the debt market it was at Rs 11,268 crore ($1.89 billion), taking the total amount to Rs 22,023 crore ($3.67 billion), according to the latest data.

Market analysts believe that foreign investors have been betting on the Indian market mainly on reform agenda of the new government at the Centre.

Also, they anticipate that inflows would continue in the coming months as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has announced several measures in Budget 2014-15 to enthuse investors.

‘From a stock market perspective, the investment push in the Budget both directly via government spending as well as tax cuts together with higher FDI limits in insurance and defence and a bunch of steps to ease taxation should augur well...,’ US financial services major Morgan Stanley said in a note.

Since the beginning of the year, foreign investors have made a net investment of Rs 1.45 lakh crore (about $24 billion) into the country's securities market. This includes a net investment of Rs 70,550 crore in equities and Rs 74,000 crore into debt market.

From the beginning of June, FIIs (Foreign Institutional Investors) along with sub-accounts and qualified foreign investors have been clubbed together by market regulator Sebi to create a new investor category called foreign portfolio investors.

The strong inflows in the recent months have taken the cumulative net investments of foreign investors into India to $195 billion. In rupee terms, their investments are at Rs 9.35 lakh crore level.