India: heavy net selling

Foreign investors and domestic institutions both sold Indian shares on April 22, adding to a down day for Mumbai markets. (moneycontrol.com) Moneycontrol’s daily cash-market table showed Foreign Institutional Investors as net sellers of ₹2,078 crore and Domestic Institutional Investors as net sellers of ₹1,048 crore on April 22. BSE says its category-wise turnover data is provisional and can change after custodial confirmation. (moneycontrol.com) (bseindia.com) In Indian market shorthand, Foreign Institutional Investors are overseas funds and Domestic Institutional Investors are local mutual funds, insurers and other large pools of capital. Their daily “net” number is simply what they bought minus what they sold in the cash market. (moneycontrol.com) The selling landed as benchmark indexes fell sharply. The Sensex closed down 756.84 points at 78,516.49 and the Nifty 50 dropped 198.50 points to 24,378.10 on April 22, with heavy selling in information-technology shares and higher crude-oil worries weighing on sentiment. (thehindubusinessline.com) (livemint.com) The move also broke a short run of foreign buying. Mint reported that Foreign Institutional Investors had been net buyers on April 15, April 16 and April 17, after months of heavier outflows earlier in 2026. (livemint.com) The larger backdrop has been a sustained foreign retreat from Indian equities this year. NSDL’s 2026 calendar-year table showed net equity outflows of ₹35,962 crore in January, inflows of ₹22,615 crore in February, outflows of ₹1,17,775 crore in March, and another ₹43,419 crore of equity selling in April through April 17. (fpi.nsdl.co.in) Domestic money has been the counterweight for most of that stretch. Mint reported Domestic Institutional Investors bought ₹69,220.74 crore in January, ₹38,423.11 crore in February and ₹1,42,960.37 crore in March, even though they turned net sellers in several mid-April sessions. (livemint.com) Analysts have tied the foreign selling to slower earnings growth, relatively rich valuations, tax changes, rupee weakness and better near-term opportunities in markets such as Korea and Taiwan. Business Standard also said higher crude prices and the West Asia war strengthened those pressures in early 2026. (business-standard.com) April 22 fit that pattern even as parts of Asia traded off steadier global cues. The Times of India said Asian markets were mixed after Wall Street gains and softer oil prices, while Indian stocks still fell as local sellers and sector-specific pressure took over. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) (thehindubusinessline.com) For traders, the April 22 readout was simple: overseas money sold, local institutions sold too, and the usual domestic cushion was thinner than it had been in the worst of the March slide. (moneycontrol.com) (livemint.com)