Sensex, Nifty post third week of gains; DII holdings in stocks hit an all-time high surpassing FIIs

It was a roller coaster ride for stock market investors on Friday, with BSE Sensex and Nifty50 gaining more than 1 per cent intra-day before profit booking set in and the benchmark indices eventually settled only slightly higher over the previous day's close. The Sensex ended 260 points or 0.3 per cent higher at 80,501.99 and the Nifty50 edged up just over 12 points or 0.05 per cent to end the session at 24,346.70, marking a third straight week of gains. This comes at a time when the share of domestic institutional investors in the Indian stock market has surpassed the share of foreign investors.

"Despite growing global optimism and heightened expectations surrounding a potential trade agreement between the US and India, market gains were trimmed, with indices remaining largely flat due to escalating tensions along the LoC. The recent rally also triggered profit booking and rotation across sectors from broad indices to IT stocks," said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Investments.

Adani Ports was the biggest gainer on the Sensex on Friday with the Adani Group stock gaining more than 4 per cent, on the back of strong earnings for the fourth quarter and full year 2024-25. The company reported a 50 per cent surge in January-March quarter net profit, while full-year net profit was at an all-time high of ₹ 11,061 crore.

Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, ITC and Tata Steel were among the other major gainers, rising between 1 per cent to 3 per cent.

IndusInd Bank, which has been under pressure in recent weeks, first following the disclosure that it had found discrepancies in the accounting of its derivatives portfolio and then following the resignation of its MD and CEO Sumant Kathpalia this week, gained 1.7 per cent on Friday after a report stated that market regulator SEBI had closed its investigation in potential insider trading violations by top executives of the bank.

While the Sensex and Nifty ended in the green, mid and smallcap indices were under pressure, with the BSE Midcap index declining 176 points and the smallcap index slipping 35 points.

For the week, the Sensex was up more than 1.5 per cent, aided by a rebound in foreign institutional investor flows in recent weeks, while domestic institutional investors continue to be net buyers. So far in 2025, foreign portfolio investors have been net sellers to the tune of over ₹ 1.12 lakh crore in Indian equity in the backdrop of the global economic uncertainty following the reciprocal tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump.

However, after pulling out ₹ 78,027 crore, ₹ 34,574 crore and ₹ 3,973 crore in January, February and March respectively, FPIs turned net buyers, investing ₹ 4,223 crore in April and ₹ 173 crore in the beginning of this month.

Atmanirbhar Stock Market: DII holdings surpass FIIs

While FIIs have been big sellers over 2024-2025, domestic institutional investors have continued to buy, helping them surpass FII ownership for the first time in over two decades. According to data from Primeinfobase.com, the share of DIIs in the Indian capital market reached an all-time high of 17.62 per cent as of March 31, 2025, up from Rs 16.89 per cent as of December 31, 2024, following net investment of a staggering ₹ 1.89 lakh crore in the January-March quarter. The share of FIIs meanwhile slumped to a 12-year low of 17.22 per cent from 17.24 per cent in the same period.

"The domestic mutual funds, flush with retail money coming through SIPs, have continued to play a huge role in this with a net investment of ₹ 1.16 lakh crore during the quarter, taking their share in companies listed on NSE to yet another all-time high, and the first time in double digits, of 10.35 per cent as on March 31, 2025, up from 9.93 per cent," pointed Pranav Haldea, managing director of Prime Database Group.

For years, FIIs have been the largest non-promoter shareholder category in the Indian market with their investment decisions having a huge bearing on the overall direction of the market. However, this is no longer the case, with DIIs along with retail and high-net-worth individual investors now offering a sizeable counter with their share of holdings reaching 27.10 per cent as of March 31, 2025, pointed Haldea. He believes the day is not too far when the share of MFs alone will overtake that of FIIs.

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