March 2026: FPIs Witness Record Equity Selling, While DIIs & Mutual Funds Surpass Their Previous Buying Record of October 2024
March 2026 Sectoral Rotation: Financials and Autos See Heavy Selling Pressure; FPIs Stay Selective in Capital Goods
Financial Services Leads the Selloff; Autos, Construction and Defensives Also Under Pressure: On the selling side, Financial Services remained the biggest drag by a wide margin, witnessing massive outflows of ₹60,655 Cr, with selling persisting across both halves of the month at ₹31,831 Cr and ₹28,824 Cr, respectively. Automobile saw the second-highest outflows at ₹12,498 Cr, with selling intensifying sharply in the second half to ₹7,691 Cr from ₹4,807 Cr in the first.
Construction too remained under pressure, with net outflows of ₹9,154 Cr, including a sharper ₹6,179 Cr selloff in the latter half. Among other sectors, Telecommunication (₹5,603 Cr), FMCG (₹5,419 Cr), Realty (₹4,693 Cr), Healthcare (₹4,638 Cr) and Oil & Gas (₹4,129 Cr) also saw persistent selling, reflecting a broad-based foreign retreat across both cyclicals and defensive segments in March.
Capital Goods Emerges as the Only Meaningful Buying Pocket – FPI buying in March 2026 was extremely selective, with Capital Goods emerging as the only sector to witness net inflows of note at ₹3,148 Cr. Buying, however, was largely front-loaded, with strong inflows of ₹3,897 Cr in the 1st–15th March, followed by net selling of ₹749 Cr in the 16th–31st March, indicating that even in their preferred capex-linked segment, foreign investors turned more cautious toward the latter half of the month. The overall pattern suggests that while FPIs retained some preference for the domestic capex theme, broader risk appetite remained weak in March.
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