Foreign shareholders own almost a third of corporate India. The collective foreign holding through foreign promoters, foreign institutional investors, overseas corporate bodies, non-resident Indians and holders of global depository receipts and American depository shares in Indian companies was 29.70 per cent on September 30.
If the focus is only on the private sector, foreign stakes in India Inc go up substantially to 38.93 per cent. In the public sector - listed public sector undertakings and banks - foreign holdings are 10.83 per cent.
Based on these statistics, the market value of foreign shareholdings in 2,457 companies studied in Mumbai stood at Rs 6,54,787 crore.
However, the foreign holding data pertains to the quarter ending September 30. Since then, the net FII investment in the Indian market has gone up by Rs 11,263 crore.
"Foreign holdings will go up further as more and more players are betting on the India story," said a fund manager with an overseas brokerage.
Of the 2,457 companies studied, foreign holdings in 164 firms have been above 50.1 per cent. Of these, 127 companies are multinationals in which foreign promoters hold a majority stake.
In the rest of the pack (37 companies), collective foreign holdings through FIIs, ADR and GDR holders, non-resident Indians and others are over 50 per cent.
These companies include Housing Development Finance Corporation, Satyam Computers, ICICI Bank, Infosys Technologies, Essar Oil and Zee Telefilms.
Foreign holdings vary between 25 per cent and 49.95 per cent in 180 companies, between 10 and 24.95 per cent in 334 companies, and between 5 and 9.90 per cent in 240 companies.
At present, FIIs are the single largest shareholders with a 15.28 per cent (Rs 3,63,354 crore market capitalisation) holding in Indian companies.
Foreign promoters are the second largest holders with 8.06 per cent (Rs 1,92,462 crore), followed by ADR and GDR holders, 2.95 per cent (Rs 70,423 crore), NRIs 0.99 per cent (Rs 22,250 crore) and other foreign holdings, 2.42 per cent (Rs 57,886 crore).
Holders of foreign stakes control 32.35 per cent shares in S&P CNX Nifty, 31.89 per cent in the 30-scrip BSE Sensex, and around 28.76 per cent in BSE-500 stocks.
The market value of foreign holdings in Nifty aggregates at Rs 427,078 crore. This is Rs 376,291 crore for the Sensex stocks and Rs 633,637 crore for the BSE-500 stocks.