Foreign Institutional Flows
Net purchases or sales of Indian securities by foreign portfolio investors.
Formula
Net Flow = Value of Purchases - Value of Sales by foreign portfolio investors over the period
Unit
₹ crore
In depth
Foreign portfolio flows have historically been the marginal buyer in Indian equities, which made the market sensitive to global risk appetite, the dollar and US interest rates rather than only to domestic conditions. Their influence has diminished as domestic institutional flows have grown, which is a structural change in the Indian market over the last decade. Flows are reported daily and are widely quoted as a market driver, though the causation runs both ways — flows respond to prices as much as prices respond to flows. Reading a single day's figure as a signal is treating a noisy series as information.
Worked example
Foreign investors sell ₹40,000 crore in a month while domestic institutions buy ₹45,000 crore. The market absorbs the selling comfortably, which would not have been the case fifteen years ago.
Illustrative figures, chosen so the arithmetic is easy to follow. Not a live price and not a valuation of any company.
Educational reference only
This entry explains what “Foreign Institutional Flows” means. It is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Any numbers above are illustrative, not live prices, and nothing here predicts price direction or rates a stock. Consider your own circumstances and consult a SEBI-registered investment adviser before acting.