Foreign investors selling Indian equities due to ‘profit booking’: Nirmala Sitharaman
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Monday said the foreign institutional investors (FII) are selling Indian equities lately due to the profit booking.
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) have pulled out over Rs 23,710 crore from the Indian equity markets so far this month, data from the repositories said. With this, they have pushed total outflows past Rs 1 trillion in 2025 amid rising global trade tensions.
FPIs offloaded shares worth Rs 23,710 crore from Indian equities so far, till February 21. This came following a net outflow of Rs 78,027 crore in January.
Advertisement
The total outflow by FPIs has reached Rs 1,01,737 crore in 2025 so far, data with the depositories showed.
Advertisement
From the debt market, FPIs withdrew money pulling out Rs 7,352 crore from debt general limit and Rs 3,822 crore from debt voluntary retention route.
The overall trend indicates a cautious approach by foreign investors, who scaled back investments in Indian equities significantly in 2024, with net inflows of just Rs 427 crore.
In contrasts, extraordinary Rs 1.71 trillion net inflows was seen in 2023, driven by optimism over India’s strong economic fundamentals.
In comparison, 2022 saw a net outflow of Rs 1.21 trillion amid aggressive rate hikes by global central banks. The massive selling has resulted in the Nifty yielding negative returns of 4 per cent year-to-date.
Advertisement
