Domestic investors inject ₹18,520 cr into Indian stocks amid foreign outflows

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) stepped in as a market stabiliser this week, buying a net ₹18,520 crore of Indian equities while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) withdrew about ₹13,580 crore. The net weekly flow helped limit losses in the Nifty 50 and Sensex, which fell 2.2 % and 2.7 % respectively.

State‑backed insurer LIC, the largest domestic investor, continued its contrarian buying strategy, allocating roughly $2 billion to ten stocks—including Infosys, TCS, Bharti Airtel, Hyundai Motor and Maruti Suzuki—during a period when the market was under pressure. Over the past six years, LIC’s stake in the top 500 NSE‑listed companies has risen more than 250 % to about Rs 15 lakh crore.

Other domestic capital sources are also filling the gap left by foreign sellers. Retail investors are routing money into mutual‑fund systematic investment plans (SIPs), and mutual‑fund assets under management have grown faster than LIC’s since the pandemic, providing an additional cushion for market volatility driven by global oil price swings, a weaker rupee and geopolitical tensions in West Asia.