Foreign Investors Have Pulled ₹48,056 Crore From Indian Stocks in October, With Selling Easing in Week to Oct. 23

Since our Oct. 24 report on foreign investors dumping Indian stocks for a tenth straight week, the month-to-date data from Central Depository Services Ltd (CDSL) has put a number on October: ₹48,056 crore pulled out of Indian equities so far.

That follows net outflows of ₹35,861 crore in September. Foreign investors had put in ₹20,200 crore in July and ₹29,631 crore in August.

Cumulative foreign outflows for 2026 now stand at ₹3.08 lakh crore. All of 2025 saw ₹1.66 lakh crore leave.

Selling eased last week, but did not stop

In the week ended Oct. 23, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) turned net buyers on two trading days. V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments, credited three things: the U.S. 10-year yield easing from 5.36% to around 5%, the rupee strengthening to 94.94 against the dollar, and attractive large-cap valuations.

The benchmark indexes still took a beating. In the holiday-shortened week, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 1,605.44 points, or 2.15%. The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 546.15 points, or 2.36%.

If October ends in net outflows, it will be the seventh month of 2026 with foreign selling, according to a data recap of the week's market numbers.

What market strategists blame

Dheeraj Gaur, chief investment strategy officer at Choice Wealth, pointed to crude oil near $114 a barrel amid Middle East tensions. He also cited weak corporate earnings, inflation worries and uncertainty over domestic liquidity.

He added that the ₹30,213 crore Jio Platforms IPO temporarily soaked up market liquidity, and that global portfolio reallocations added pressure.

Anand K Rathi, co-founder of MIRA Money, said persistently high oil and earnings concerns keep driving the withdrawals. Second-quarter results have been relatively strong, he said, but higher oil and logistics costs could hurt earnings growth in coming quarters. Elevated U.S. interest rates also keep American assets attractive, he said.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week called the flight of foreign capital toward the U.S. and toward markets offering bigger artificial intelligence opportunities "a concern."

The case that the exodus is overstated

Not everyone reads the numbers as a loss of faith in India. Vedant Gupte, co-founder and CEO of investment platform Trackk, said the outflows look less alarming than the headline figure, because foreign ownership of Indian equities was already at multi-year lows and domestic investors hold a bigger share of the market.

Gupte added that foreign money flowing into IPOs suggests the selling may be a rotation out of existing holdings, not a verdict on the country.

Domestic institutions are doing real work here. Rathi said steady inflows from domestic institutional investors and systematic investment plans have cushioned the selling pressure.

In debt, foreign investors remained net sellers. They withdrew ₹3,858 crore through the Fully Accessible Route and ₹1,332 crore through the Voluntary Retention Route, while investing ₹3,737 crore through the general route.

Reliance and Jio in the spotlight

Reliance Industries shares hit a 52-week low on Oct. 13. Mint reported that two traders have built large leveraged positions in the stock, each above 3% of its marketwide position limit, based on stock exchange data. Analysts quoted by Mint called the positions "rarest of rare," and the rationale behind them is unclear.

The bets come ahead of the Jio Platforms listing. Reliance owns about 66% of the telecom and digital unit.

The week ahead

Jio Platforms shares are scheduled to debut on the exchanges on Wednesday, Oct. 28. Ajit Mishra of Religare Broking called the listing a key sentiment trigger for the primary market.

The same day, the U.S. Federal Reserve concludes its Oct. 27-28 meeting. Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, founder and CEO of HST Wealth, said markets largely expect rates to hold, which makes the guidance more important than the decision. He warned that a continued inflation focus could lift U.S. yields and the dollar and keep emerging-market flows under pressure, while balanced guidance could support a temporary recovery.

September industrial production data is also due on Oct. 28. Core sector output grew 7.9% year on year in September, up from 5.9% in August.

Earnings this week include TVS Motor, Asian Paints, Trent, Sun Pharma, Bharat Electronics, Indian Oil, Bank of Baroda and GAIL India. The Bank of Japan's policy decision is also on the calendar.

Pabitro Mukherjee of Bajaj Broking said U.S. GDP data, Brent crude, geopolitics and earnings will shape direction. Oil is the variable that can unwind the week's relief: Mishra warned that elevated prices threaten to raise India's energy import bill, complicate inflation and weigh on the rupee and corporate margins.