FDI in India is to pick up going ahead on the back of a strong rebound in growth

In this backdrop, foreign portfolio investors (FPI) invested across geographies and asset classes. India, too, got its share with FPIs investing a record Rs 2.74 trillion ($37 billion) during FY21 in the Indian markets.

The S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty50 logged their best financial year(FY21) performance in a decade and surged 68 per cent and 71 per cent, respectively . Earlier during FY10, the S&P BSE Sensex had surged 80.5 per cent, while the Nifty50 rallied 73.7 per cent. Meanwhile, foreign holding in the Indian equity market has shot up to 27.6 per cent, much above the long-term average of 19.6 per cent, a recent Nomura report said. FII’s increased their holding in metals, cement, coal/utilities, consumer durables and industrial sectors in the last few months, while cutting their position in media and real estate sectors.

Indian markets, according to experts at HSBC, are seen as an alternative to China. “The valuation of Indian stock market appears expensive now. Last year, India got a good share of flows from north Asian regions. Besides, Covid third wave still remains a risk for the country,” he said.

HSBC has pegged India's FY22 GDP growth at 8 per cent in fiscal 2021-22 (FY22) with the first half likely to be weak, led by both the direct and indirect cost of the second wave.

Pranjul Bhandari, chief economist for India at HSBC in a co-authored note with Aayushi Chaudhary writes-“But we remain positive about growth prospects in the second half, by which time a critical mass of the population will be vaccinated”.