A Billion Dollars a Day, Foreigners Keep Selling India Stocks

A Billion Dollars a Day, Foreigners Keep Selling India Stocks

(Bloomberg) -- India’s $3.2 trillion stock market is witnessing an unprecedented foreign selloff as the surge in oil prices fuels worries of an inflation shock in the major energy-importing nation.

While global funds have been net sellers of local equities since the start of October, when the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex hit an all-time high, the pace of outflows has intensified since the start of the war in Ukraine. India relies on imports to meet about 85% of its oil needs.

Overseas investors have offloaded $2 billion of local shares in just two days this week, according to the latest exchange data compiled by Bloomberg, after a record withdrawal of $2.9 billion last week. With this, $19 billion has flown out since Sept. 30, about half of the foreign money local shares lured since the pandemic lows in March 2020. That’s pushed down the rupee to an all-time low.