Despite Easing of Rules, FPI Inflow in 2025 Rs 83,702 Crore Less Than 2024
New Delhi: Despite the easing of rules to make way for investment, foreign portfolio investors have put in only Rs 69,073 crore or $7.8 billion into Indian debt markets in the calendar year of 2025.
This is much less than the Rs 152,775 crore FPI inflow into debt markets in 2024, Indian Express reports citing data reported by the National Securities Depository Limited.
There were expectations that $20-25 billion would flow into the market through FAR in 2025, the report says.
This dip is despite the operationalising of the Fully Accessible Route or FAR programme by the Reserve Bank of India that allows non-residents to invest in some Indian government securities without any investment ceilings and few restrictions.
The NSDL's data quoted in the report says that of the total debt investment, Rs 66,528 crore flowed in through the FAR, while just Rs 12,083 crore was invested in the debt general category so far in 2025.
The report says that the Voluntary Retention Route – a special channel for FPIs to invest in Indian debt markets by committing to a minimum three-year retention period for their investments – saw an outflow of Rs 9,538 crore.
"This marks a reversal from 2024, when Rs 1,10,813 crore came via the debt general category and only Rs 28,962 crore came through FAR," the report says.
India has faced a foreign outflow of nearly $17 billion this year and is poised to allow an easing of regulations in its $260 billion financial sector over the next six-to-12 months, Reuters had reported last week.
Business Standard has reported that after withdrawing money for the past three months, foreign investors have turned net buyers with a net infusion of Rs 14,610 crore in October, supported by resilient corporate earnings, a rate cut by the US Federal Reserve, and hopes of US-India trade talks materialising soon.
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