Foreign portfolio investors held about ₹78.05 lakh crore of Indian securities at the end of July 2026, according to official NSDL custody data. That is the number readers should use—not ₹8.5 lakh crore, which appears to confuse the approximate four-month increase with the total value held.
- NSDL’s July category-wise table shows total FPI assets under custody of ₹78,04,857 crore, including ₹70,24,673 crore in equities.
- A reported 12% rise from April implies an April base near ₹69.69 lakh crore and an increase near ₹8.36 lakh crore; it does not imply a July total of ₹8.5 lakh crore.
- Foreign portfolio investors can have rising assets under custody while remaining net sellers because market prices, currency values and portfolio mix also change.
- July and August buying improved the flow picture, but it did not erase the heavy selling recorded earlier in 2026.
Foreign portfolio investors, or FPIs, are overseas institutions and eligible investors that buy Indian shares, bonds, mutual funds and other market securities without seeking managerial control. National Securities Depository Limited, or NSDL, publishes custody and transaction data reported by custodians under the framework overseen by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
Everyone else is reporting a 12% rebound; we are explaining why the stock of assets and the flow of new money tell different stories. That distinction matters because a rising custody value can look like a vote of confidence even during a period in which overseas investors sold more securities than they bought.
Foreign portfolio investors: the corrected numbers
NSDL’s official category-wise AUC table shows a July 2026 grand total of ₹78,04,857 crore. Equity accounted for ₹70,24,673 crore, or about 90% of that total. The remaining amount was spread across general-limit debt, the Voluntary Retention Route, the Fully Accessible Route, mutual funds, hybrid securities and alternative investment funds.
The exact July total is independently reflected in sector-wise summaries of NSDL data. A July market update placed the end-June total at about ₹76.22 lakh crore, which means AUC rose around ₹1.83 lakh crore, or 2.4%, during July alone. That monthly comparison is different from the reported 12% April-to-July recovery.
| Measure | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| July FPI AUC | ₹78.05 lakh crore | Total market value held in custody |
| July equity AUC | ₹70.25 lakh crore | Largest component of FPI holdings |
| Implied April AUC | About ₹69.69 lakh crore | Derived if July was exactly 12% higher |
| Implied four-month rise | About ₹8.36 lakh crore | Increase in value, not the ending total |
| July versus June | About +₹1.83 lakh crore | Roughly 2.4% monthly increase |
Why assets under custody are not the same as inflows
Assets under custody are a balance-sheet-style stock measured at a point in time. Net investment is a flow measured over a day, month or year. A custodian can therefore report a higher ending value even if the investor withdrew money during part of the period.
Suppose a foreign fund begins with ₹100 crore of Indian shares, sells ₹5 crore and then sees the remaining portfolio rise 10% in market value. The closing value becomes ₹104.5 crore despite the sale. AUC rose, but the fund was still a net seller.
Foreign portfolio investors’ assets under custody measure what their Indian securities are worth on a reporting date; net FPI flows measure purchases minus sales. AUC can rise because prices appreciate, the rupee changes, new money arrives or the portfolio mix shifts, so it should never be treated as a standalone inflow number.
What changed between April and July 2026
The period began in risk-off conditions. SEBI’s April 2026 bulletin recorded exceptionally heavy March selling across asset classes, with geopolitical tension, high oil prices, rupee weakness and higher US Treasury yields cited as pressures. NSDL-based reports then showed equity outflows continuing through April, May and June.
Foreign portfolio investors returned to net equity buying in July. Published estimates vary with the date and data cut: Mint cited roughly ₹15,412 crore by the end of July, while later CDSL-based reporting placed July buying nearer ₹20,200 crore. The variation is a reason to state the source and cut-off rather than combine unlike series.
August extended the improvement. CNBC-TV18 reported about $2.12 billion of foreign buying in August after $2.45 billion in July, while domestic institutional investors bought $5.4 billion in August. Those two positive months helped custody values recover, but calendar-year foreign flows remained negative because the earlier withdrawals were much larger.
This is also why the story is not simply “foreign money is back.” July and August show renewed appetite at lower valuations and after corporate earnings improved, but they do not yet establish a structural reversal. India’s market has become less dependent on one buyer because domestic mutual funds, insurers and households have absorbed more supply.
Who holds the bulk of FPI assets
NSDL separates registered FPIs into Category I and Category II subgroups. Category I includes central banks, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, regulated funds, banks, insurers and other qualifying institutions. Its largest line in July was “appropriately regulated fund,” with total AUC of about ₹42.57 lakh crore.
Pension funds held about ₹7.76 lakh crore and sovereign wealth funds about ₹5.03 lakh crore. Those investors are often described as “sticky” capital because their liabilities and mandates can be long term, but the label should not be interpreted as a guarantee that they will never rebalance.
Category II covers groups such as corporate bodies, family offices, individuals and funds that do not qualify for Category I. The category composition matters because a rise dominated by large regulated funds may behave differently from a speculative short-term surge.
Why the equity share matters
Equity represented roughly nine-tenths of July AUC. That concentration makes the total sensitive to movements in Indian share prices. When broad indices rise, the marked-to-market value of foreign holdings can increase even on a day when exchange data show net selling.
Debt holdings behave differently. Bond prices respond to interest rates, inflation expectations and sovereign-risk conditions, while debt routes have separate eligibility rules. NSDL notes that Debt-FAR, mutual-fund and AIF AUC were added to the published table from August 2024, so long-run comparisons must use consistent coverage.
Readers looking at overseas institutional capital can compare the custody story with Lapaas Voice’s analysis of BlackRock’s Ather Energy transaction. Private-market capital follows a different route, but our report on India’s $4.1 billion July private-equity activity helps show why “foreign investment” is not one uniform data series.
Four checks before calling it a foreign-investor comeback
Net flows: Use NSDL or CDSL daily and monthly investment data to determine whether foreign portfolio investors actually bought more than they sold. Do not infer flows from AUC alone.
Market attribution: Compare the change in equity AUC with index returns and sector performance. If the portfolio’s sectors rallied sharply, valuation may explain much of the increase.
Currency: A rupee recovery improves dollar returns for overseas investors; depreciation does the opposite. The same rupee-denominated AUC can therefore feel different to the foreign owner.
Duration: Two months of buying after several months of selling is an inflection, not yet a cycle. A sustained comeback would show up in repeated positive flows, broader sector participation and stable currency-adjusted returns.
The bottom line
The reported 12% rise in FPI assets under custody is plausible when measured from the depressed April base to July, but ₹8.5 lakh crore is not the July total. Official NSDL data show about ₹78.05 lakh crore at July-end; a 12% increase implies that roughly ₹8.36 lakh crore was added to the custody value over the period.
That correction changes the interpretation. Foreign portfolio investors still own a very large stock of Indian securities, mostly equities, and the stock recovered as markets and flows improved. Yet only the net-investment series can establish whether fresh foreign money entered. For investors, policymakers and readers, keeping stock, flow and valuation separate is the difference between a useful market signal and a misleading headline.
FAQs
What are foreign portfolio investors?
Foreign portfolio investors are eligible overseas investors that hold Indian listed shares, bonds, mutual funds or other securities without seeking control of the underlying businesses.
What were FPI assets under custody in July 2026?
NSDL’s category-wise table reported total registered and expired-FPI AUC of ₹78,04,857 crore, or about ₹78.05 lakh crore, at the July reporting date.
Did FPI AUC really rise 12%?
Secondary reports describe an approximately 12% April-to-July rise. Applied to the official July total, that implies an April base near ₹69.69 lakh crore and an increase near ₹8.36 lakh crore.
Does higher AUC mean foreign portfolio investors bought shares?
Not necessarily. AUC also moves with security prices, exchange rates and portfolio mix. Net FPI investment data are needed to measure purchases minus sales.
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