Foreign investors flock to Indian equity

Overseas investors bought a net Rs6.48 billion (Dh498 million) of Indian equities Tuesday, raising their investment in the equities this year to Rs208.9 billion, according to the nation's market regulator. Foreigners bought Rs25.9 billion of shares and sold Rs19.4 billion, the Securities and Exchange Board of India said on its website yesterday. They sold a net Rs1.92 billion of bonds, paring their inflow into debt this year to Rs177.7 billion, the data show. Foreigners have invested Rs4.653 trillion in stocks and Rs1.385 trillion in bonds since they were allowed into the country in 1993. Investments in debt increased after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government raised the cap on foreign ownership of local currency bonds by 20 percent to $60 billion in November to stem a slide in the rupee.