Investors pull $ 1.5 b from India equities so far in July: IIF

NEW YORK (Reuters): Non-residents have pulled about $1.5 billion from Indian equities so far in July, reversing a strong trend of inflows in previous months, data from the Institute of International Finance showed on Wednesday.

“Unlike other episodes, which mostly coincided with broader (emerging market) outflows such as August 2015 and October 2018, these outflows are largely contained to India,” the IIF said in a report that includes data to 22 July.

Indian equities had seen $11.34 billion in inflows from non-residents during the first half of 2019, the data show. July could be the first month of net outflows from Indian equities since $75 million exited in January.

The iShares MSCI India ETF rose 5.9% in the first half of the year, gaining as much as 9.4% for the year when it peaked in June. The fund has fallen 4.2% so far in July.

Flows activity between 8 July and 22 July accounted for the fourth-largest two-week equity outflow in India over the last five years, according to the IIF.