FIIs pull out Rs 53b from bonds in Aug

NEW DELHI, Aug 17 (PTI): Overseas investors have pulled out nearly Rs 53 billion from the Indian debt market since the beginning of the month.

In comparison, equity market has witnessed modest inflow of Rs 11.50 billion during the period.

Foreign investors were gross buyer of debt securities worth Rs 91.75 crore till August 14, and sellers to the tune of Rs 144.48 billion -- a net outflow of Rs 52.73 billion, as per latest data.

The huge outflow comes after foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) poured in around Rs 800 billion in the first seven months (January-July) of 2014.

Market experts attributed the huge outflow to several factors such as geo-political unrest in Ukraine, Iraq and Gaza along with global economic issues like the defaults in Argentina and Portugal and the recent SLR (statutory liquidity ratio) cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

However, they maintained that the long-term prospects of staying invested in India are still positive.