Foreign investors sell heavily in India's secondary market while still buying new issues

Foreign portfolio investors have reversed their recent buying streak by selling ₹23,676 crore of Indian equities in the secondary market through September 19, according to market data. At the same time, they kept allocating capital to primary offerings, contributing ₹2,703 crore this month and raising the cumulative year-to-date primary inflow total to ₹48,550 crore. V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments, said this split explains why primary-market activity remains robust despite weak secondary-market performance.

SEBI’s statistics indicate that primary-market inflows fell 41 percent to ₹70,822 crore in FY26 from ₹1.21 trillion in FY25. The contrasting flows suggest foreign investors are selective, favoring new issue opportunities while trimming existing holdings.