EconomyExternal
Who is financing India from abroad?
Foreign investors withdrew a net ₹35,861 cr from Indian shares in Sept 2026. NSDL's figures include new share issues as well as purchases and sales of existing shares.
Written for readers following India's external accounts. Data checked on 25 Oct 2026.
Did foreign investors add equity or debt?
Foreign investors withdrew a net ₹20,727 cr from Indian debt securities in Sept 2026. Their equity and debt investments can move in different directions.
Foreign portfolio money, month by month
Recent complete months, ₹ crore; primary and secondary markets.
How to read it. Positive bars show foreign investors putting money into India; negative bars show withdrawals. The figures count purchases less sales and exclude changes in the market value of existing holdings.
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What does the full year look like?
Foreign investors withdrew a net ₹2.7 lakh cr from Indian shares over the year to Sept 2026. The total uses complete fortnightly reports for every month.
The preceding year of foreign portfolio investment
₹ crore. Overlapping trailing-year sums; gaps when a month is incomplete.
How to read it. Each point adds up a complete year of investment, smoothing the monthly swings. Neighbouring points share most of their months, so a long run of readings gives less independent evidence than it might appear.
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What about direct investment?
The RBI's quarterly accounts put direct and portfolio investment side by side. Both are net figures, after allowing for money moving in the opposite direction.
Direct and portfolio investment in the external accounts
Quarterly, US$ billion. RBI balance-of-payments flows; coverage differs from NSDL rupees.
How to read it. Direct investment involves lasting ownership; portfolio investment covers securities. Both lines show net amounts after allowing for investment abroad, so neither tells us the total money that foreign investors brought in.
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Other financial flows, reserve transactions and errors also enter the external accounts. Direct and portfolio investment alone cannot explain how the current account was financed.
Is dollar borrowing expanding?
Dollar credit to Indian borrowers outside the banking system stood at US$117.6 billion in January to March 2026, down 5.2% on a year earlier. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) measures this part of India's foreign borrowing.
Growth in dollar credit to non-bank borrowers
Quarterly, % on a year earlier. Bank loans and debt securities denominated in US dollars.
How to read it. Compare India's growth in dollar borrowing with emerging markets. Slower growth can reflect repayments or weaker demand for loans as well as a shortage of lenders.
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What the numbers can't tell you
- Custodian reports and exchange trades differ
- NSDL counts investment in new securities as well as trading in existing ones. Daily stock-exchange cash-equity figures cover a narrower market, so their totals can differ.
- Missing reports leave gaps
- Each asset class needs complete fortnightly reports for the month. A missing month leaves the annual total blank, and changes in the market value of holdings are kept out of investment flows.
- The figures arrive at different times
- Quarterly current-account and debt figures can lag the reserve, trade and investor-flow data. Check each date: an older figure tells us less about India's position today.
- The borrowing figures cover different things
- BIS counts dollar borrowing by non-bank borrowers. The RBI's external debt figures cover more borrowers and currencies, so adding the totals would count some borrowing twice.
- Past figures can be revised
- These charts use the latest available revisions. Import cover allows for a publication delay before using an import figure, but the history cannot recreate the figures readers would have seen at the time.
The workings
The question
Data
Tables and downloads accompany calculated measures. RBI level series are shown as charts only. Bundles are listed in data status.