Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold Indian equities worth a net Rs 12,944 crore on October 8. It is the second-largest single-day sell-off this year. Only the Rs 21,106 crore outflow on May 29 was bigger.
The sale pushes October outflows to Rs 37,929 crore in just five sessions. Net FII selling for 2026 has now crossed Rs 4.41 lakh crore. The figures show global funds continue to cut exposure to emerging markets.
Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought Rs 10,703 crore on October 8. They have put Rs 35,613 crore into equities over the first five sessions of the month. Local buying has absorbed a large share of the foreign selling. It has not been enough to stop the market from falling.
Bernstein’s note, published in the third week of September, argued that foreign investors have little reason to commit fresh capital to India. FIIs have withdrawn nearly $40 billion over two years, it said. It described many large caps as products of an older economic era that lack the growth to justify current valuations.
Small and mid-caps offer better growth, Bernstein said. But they are hard to access at institutional scale because of limited liquidity and free float.