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Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) maintained their buying spree in Indian equities, investing Rs 12,921 crore in the first week of August, driven by improving macroeconomic conditions, expectations of US rate cuts, lower crude oil prices and a stable rupee.

The inflow follows a Rs 20,200-crore investment in July, marking a sharp turnaround after four consecutive months of heavy selling.

FPIs had withdrawn Rs 49,340 crore in June, Rs 32,963 crore in May, Rs 60,847 crore in April and a massive Rs 1.17 lakh crore in March. Prior to this selling streak, they had invested Rs 22,615 crore in February, according to CDSL data.

Despite the recent buying, foreign investors have remained net sellers in Indian equities in 2026, withdrawing Rs 2.41 lakh crore so far, already exceeding the Rs 1.66 lakh crore outflow recorded during the entire 2025.

Market experts said the recent inflows reflect improving investor sentiment, supported by expectations of US rate cuts, softer crude prices and a stable rupee.

The RBI’s improved growth and inflation outlook has further strengthened confidence, while relatively low foreign ownership of Indian equities leaves room for fresh allocations, said Vedant Gupte, Co-Founder and CEO of investment platform Trackk.
Importantly, a large share of the recent buying has come through the secondary market, signalling stronger interest in listed Indian companies rather than merely IPO allocations, Gupte added.”The sustained buying by both FIIs and DIIs was largely driven by the de-escalation of geopolitical tensions, which helped strengthen investor confidence and supported positive market sentiment,” said Pabitro Mukherjee, Deputy Vice President-Research, Bajaj Broking.

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments, said an important trend in FPI buying is their preference for sectors such as automobiles, consumer durables and healthcare.

Foreign investor interest has also extended to the debt market, which continued to attract inflows. FPIs invested Rs 622 crore in debt through the general route during the period under review.

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The combined market valuation of four of the top-10 most valued firms jumped Rs 1.43 lakh crore last week, with State Bank of India emerging as the biggest gainer.

Last week, the BSE benchmark Sensex climbed 404.53 points, or 0.51 per cent, and the NSE Nifty went up by 187.05 points, or 0.76 per cent.

“Markets ended the week with modest gains despite heightened volatility, as investors navigated the roll-out of the new Closing Auction Session (CAS) framework for F&O stocks, the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy decision, and lingering geopolitical uncertainties,” Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.

From the top-10 pack, Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Larsen & Toubro were the gainers, while Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and Hindustan Unilever faced a combined erosion of Rs 1.23 lakh crore from their valuation.

State Bank of India added Rs 63,922.03 crore, taking its market valuation to Rs 10,11,721.84 crore.

The valuation of Reliance Industries jumped Rs 32,816.4 crore to Rs 18,01,925.19 crore, and that of TCS surged Rs 31,875.35 crore to Rs 8,87,770.13 crore.
The market capitalisation (mcap) of Larsen & Toubro climbed Rs 14,637.76 crore to Rs 5,56,482.45 crore.However, the valuation of LIC tumbled Rs 40,543.23 crore to Rs 4,96,891.82 crore.

The mcap of Bajaj Finance eroded by Rs 37,168.96 crore to Rs 6,73,648.55 crore, and that of HDFC Bank dropped Rs 24,183.16 crore to Rs 11,27,967.47 crore.

The valuation of ICICI Bank declined by Rs 9,507.67 crore to Rs 10,20,370.63 crore, and that of Bharti Airtel eroded by Rs 7,581.65 crore to Rs 12,22,423.98 crore.

The mcap of Hindustan Unilever dipped by Rs 4,793.16 crore to Rs 4,88,808.97 crore.

Reliance Industries remained the most valued firm, followed by Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, TCS, Bajaj Finance, Larsen & Toubro, LIC and Hindustan Unilever.

By Kirsten Chang

Market valuation indicators are used by investors and analysts to gauge whether markets are overvalued, undervalued, or fairly valued relative to historical norms. Here is a summary of the four market valuation indicators we update