FPI favourites turn risky bets amid pullout

When stocks are chased by a wave of liquidity, picking up shares of companies where foreign portfolio investors (FPI) have higher holdings is a no-brainer. But as risk aversion sets in, stocks with high FPI ownership are often perceived as risky bets. Stocks such as ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Bharti Infratel, Zee Entertainment, Jubilant Foods, DLF, Cairn India, Godrej Consumer, Tata Motors, Dabur and Power Grid — where FPI holding is between 60 per cent and 85 per cent of free float — could come under pressure if redemption rush among global investors continues. Free float of a stock is the number of shares with non-promoters. In the last one month, stocks with high FII stakes in the total free float (excluding defensive shares like IT and pharma) have dropped by an average of more than 11 per cent against 8.9 per cent decline in Nifty. FIIs hold $330 billion in Indian equities out of market capitalisation of $1400 billion. Global investors are paring stakes in risky assets, thanks to economic slowdown, currency devaluation by the China, the Fed’s pending rate hike & collapse of oil prices. FIIs sold stocks worth $3.5 billion in the last one month — which means half of the money they had deployed since January has been pulled out in a month. FIIs sold $2.6 billion worth of equities in August — the highest since October ’08.