FIIs hold 10% in 226 Indian firms

Foreign institutional investors now hold at least 10 per cent stake in one in every seven major Indian companies. These companies are listed under the A, B1, B and S groups on the bourses.

There are 1,550 companies whose stocks are actively traded under these groups on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The stakes of FIIs were over 10 per cent in 226 such companies in the quarter ending September 2005.

On June 30 this year, FIIs had held at least 10 per cent stake in one in every nine companies. In absolute terms, FII stakes were 10 per cent and above in 179 companies in June.

"There is no end to the growing appetite of the FIIs for Indian companies. They are particularly targeting dividend-paying companies. This also indicates that they are here to stay," said an analyst with a foreign brokerage.

In fact, there has been a progressive increase in FII stake in major Indian companies. In September 2003, FIIs were holding at least 10 per cent in 80 companies. The number increased to 138 in September 2004.

In 26 Sensex companies, FIIs have raised their stakes from 10 per cent and above. The figure was 21 two years ago. FIIs hold 64.56 per cent in HDFC, 53.69 per cent in Satyam Computer, 45.48 per cent in ICICI Bank and 40 per cent in Infosys  Technologies -- all Sensex stocks.

In non-Sensex stocks, the FIIs are the largest shareholders in Geodesic Information

Systems (49.68 per cent), followed by IVRCL Infrastructure (41.90 per cent), SB&T International (39.26 per cent), Amtek Auto (39.36 per cent) and LIC Housing Finance (35.82 per cent).

FIIs now hold higher stakes than domestic institutions in 132 companies, up from 88 companies a year back. Between October 2004 and June 2005, the tally went up by 24 to 112. In the July-September 2005 quarter, another 20 companies joined this group where domestic institutions were playing the second fiddle to overseas investors.

During the quarter ended September 2005, FII holdings in Eicher Motors (14.17 per cent), Reliance Capital (21.03 per cent), Tata Tea (22.93 per cent), NIIT (22.35 per cent), VSNL (8.89 per cent), Indian Hotels (22.87 per cent) and Glenmark Pharma (18.01 per cent) were higher than that of domestic players.