Market moves not solely driven by flows: Harsha Upadhyaya

Harsha Upadhyaya, Chief Investment Officer, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company (AMC)

Harsha Upadhyaya, Chief Investment Officer, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company (AMC), believes that foreign investor flows alone cannot determine the direction of Indian equity markets.

Speaking at the Moneycontrol Mutual Fund Summit, Upadhyaya said that despite Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) showing limited interest in India over the past two to three years, domestic markets have continued to move higher.

“If we had followed what FIIs have done in the last two to three years, they have hardly been investors in India — yet markets have moved up. That shows not everyone needs to follow them,” he said.

He explained that market performance is often misinterpreted as being driven purely by inflows, while in reality, it depends on the balance between buying and selling intensity.

“Every buy transaction has a sell transaction. The direction of the market depends on which side shows greater intensity,” Upadhyaya noted.