More than 60% of the top 20 FIIs in India underperform benchmarks in this downturn

A deep dive into the performance of the country’s largest FIIs shows that barring a few – Norway’s Norges Bank, Vanguard, Northern TK Venture, Fidelity and Canada Pension Plan among others -- most have lost more than the benchmarks.

A majority of the largest foreign institutional investors (FIIs), which have a huge exposure to the Indian markets, have taken a much bigger hit in their portfolios than the benchmarks.

Data from primeinfobase.com shows that more than 60 percent of the top 20 FIIs saw their portfolio value falling by a much bigger margin when compared to the fall in the benchmark – Sensex has dipped nearly 5 percent since touching record highs in September.

A deep dive into the performance of the country’s largest FIIs shows that barring a few – Norway’s Norges Bank, Vanguard, Northern TK Venture, Fidelity and Canada Pension Plan among others -- most have lost more than the benchmarks.

For instance, the Government of Singapore, the biggest FII in the country in terms of portfolio value—pegged at nearly Rs 2.70 lakh crore as of September 30—saw its assets dip by more than 9%, taking a hit of more than Rs 24,500 crore. The biggest holdings of the Government of Singapore include HDFC Bank, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Infosys, L&T, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, and Axis Bank, among others.

For global financial major Goldman Sachs, the hit was bigger at nearly 14%, with the portfolio value dipping to Rs 43,719.89 crore as of December 2 from Rs 50,650.02 crore as of September 30. Goldman Sachs Group funds have huge exposure in companies like ITC, JSW Energy, and GMR Airports, along with the Adani Group companies like Adani Ports & SEZ, Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, and Adani Energy Solutions.

Interestingly, the volatility in Adani Group stocks led to GQG Partners also taking a significant hit with its portfolio value dipping by nearly 10% between September 30 and December 2. GQG Partners, however, holds shares in a few other companies as well like GMR Airports, IFDFC First Bank, ITC, JSW Energy, Patanjali Foods and Vodafone Idea.

The portfolio calculation has been done on the basis of the shareholding data available for the September quarter. To be sure, the latest value of the portfolio is also basis the September quarter holding, and hence shares bought or sold post-September 30 will not be reflected in the calculation.

Meanwhile, USA’s Capital Group, which boasts of the third-largest portfolio among all registered FIIs in the country, took a hit of nearly 12 percent as the fund has exposure in around 45 small-cap stocks as well. Its largest holdings in the small-cap space are Tube Investments of India, Max Healthcare Institute, Inox Wind, Laurus Labs, KEI Industries, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, APL Apollo Tubes, and 360 One WAM among others.

Mauritius-based Nalanda, which invests through Nalanda India Equity Fund and Nalanda India Fund, also saw its portfolio value fall more than 13 percent. Its top holdings in the country include Havells India, Page Industries, Info Edge (India), AIA Engineering, Thermax, Supreme Industries and MRF.

Amansa, which is another Mauritius-based fund and features among the top 10 FIIs with a portfolio value of Rs 19,829.53 crore as on December 2, saw the value of its holdings dip by more than 7 percent as its portfolio companies like Trent, SRF Ltd, Eicher Motors, Cyient Ltd and Bharat Forge took a hit.

The list of top 20 FIIs in terms of portfolio value also includes names like Dodge & Cox International Stock Fund, Kuwait Investment, Caladium Investment, Camas Investments, and Google International LLC and all have taken a much bigger hit since September when compared to the benchmarks.

On the other hand, FIIs like Norway’s Norges, Vanguard Group, Kotak India Midcap Fund, Fidelity, Invesco, Artisan and Canada Pension Plan have been able to stem the fall to a certain extent even while witnessing a dip in the portfolio value between September 30 and December 2.

Interestingly, Northern TK Venture, courtesy of its holding in Fortis Healthcare, managed to completely buck the trend to see its portfolio value jump by a little over 10% during the period. Similarly, UAE’s Green Enterprises Investment Holding saw its portfolio value increase by over 4 percent following the price movement in the share of Adani Enterprises.