India has beaten rest of the Asian markets by attracting the highest foreign funds flow in March. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) pumped 3.63 billion dollars into Indian equities in their biggest buying binge since December 2023.

 

 

Domestic institutions continued to be net buyers, investing around 52,467 crore rupees in the market to hit a four-year high. The achievement defies geopolitical crises and concerns that the higher interest rate regime will continue for some more time.

 

 

Outside India, South Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia were the investment destinations for FIIs, while they chose to pull out money from markets in Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

 

 

Experts attributed the net FII figures to purchases of stocks through block deals and index rebalancing in March. A steep correction in the market also threw up an opportunity to buy undervalued stocks, including small and mid-caps.

 

 

For DIIs, cash reserves helped raise their equity holdings.

 

 

With March being the year-end month, investors try to book fresh positions and clean up their books. This also fuelled the buying binge, according to him.