New Delhi, June 19 -- Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) had been the largest group of non-promoter shareholding on Indian stock exchanges for about two decades, and their buy-sell pattern controlled the direction of the stock market.

When the appetite for risk among investors abroad declined, the Indian stocks suffered. When risk appetite improved, Indian stocks revived.

That dependence has now undergone a fundamental transformation.

According to the NSE India ownership tracker for the quarter ended March 2026, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) commanded a record 19.6% of NSE-listed companies, while FII ownership slipped to 15.8%, its lowest reading in seventeen years.

This marked the sixth consecutive quarter in which DIIs...