Foreign portfolio investors have put a net Rs 76,189 crore into Indian equities between 3 and 13 November, data from the National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) shows. The total already passes the previous monthly record of Rs 66,135 crore set in December 2023, with more than a week of trading still left in the month. FPI inflows have reversed two months of heavy selling in a matter of days.
The turn is sharp. Foreign investors pulled Rs 35,861 crore out of Indian shares in September and Rs 34,843 crore in October, a combined withdrawal of Rs 70,704 crore. FPI inflows in November have now wiped out that two-month outflow in under two weeks, and the month is on course to end as the strongest on record for foreign equity investment in India.
Single-day purchases have been large. Foreign investors bought Rs 16,278 crore of shares on 6 November and Rs 14,768 crore on 9 November, according to Business Today. FPI inflows reached $7.3 billion in seven sessions in dollar terms, CNBC TV18 reported. By Friday 13 November, foreign investors had bought Indian shares for a tenth straight trading session, and provisional exchange data put the month’s total higher still, at about Rs 94,250 crore.
The buying has lifted the market. The Sensex moved towards a nine-month high during the week, and the total market value of listed Indian companies passed Rs 510 lakh crore, according to the Times of India. The Nifty gained 8.6 per cent in the week to 6 November, its best week since 2021, as FPI inflows returned.
What is driving FPI inflows
A sell-off in artificial intelligence stocks in the United States and Asia has made India look attractive, since its market carries far less weight in AI hardware and data centre names. Money has moved towards markets seen as less tied to that trade, and India has been one of the main beneficiaries. FPI inflows have been drawn by that shift, and falling crude oil prices have helped too, easing a cost that matters for an economy that imports most of its oil.
Earnings have given foreign funds a second reason to buy. Median profit after tax for Nifty 50 companies rose 22.3 per cent in the September quarter, with median revenue up 17.4 per cent, according to Capitalmind data cited by Moneycontrol. Of the 47 Nifty companies that had reported by 10 November, 27 beat analysts’ estimates. Motilal Oswal found profit growth of 22 per cent among 92 mid-cap companies and 32 per cent among 172 small-cap companies in its coverage.
FPI inflows follow a year of heavy selling
The November buying stands out against a year of outflows. Foreign portfolio investors were net sellers in 16 of the previous 24 months, Business Today reported, and they remained net sellers of about Rs 3.82 lakh crore for 2026 even after the November buying, according to Capitalmind. The reversal is real, but it has not yet undone the selling of the past ten months.
The scale of FPI inflows is clear in the weekly figures. In eight trading sessions, foreign investors put a little over Rs 73,200 crore into Indian equities, an all-time monthly high that passed the December 2023 record, the Times of India reported, citing NSDL and BSE data. The last comparable burst of buying came in November 2020, when foreign investors put in $9.6 billion over the month.
Where FPI inflows are going
The buying has not spread evenly. Technology and telecom stocks have drawn much of the money, with foreign investors favouring companies seen as beneficiaries of digital spending rather than the AI infrastructure trade. Banks have also drawn strong interest. The flow data shows a market being bought for what it is not, as much as for what it is: India carries little of the AI hardware exposure that has driven selling elsewhere.
Whether FPI inflows last will depend on the same forces that started them. A further fall in AI stocks would keep money moving towards India, while a recovery in the AI trade could pull it back. For now, the November figures show foreign funds returning in size, and the monthly record has already fallen with trading days still to run.