By Nesil Staney
Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the largest foreign portfolio investor (FPI) in India with a $30.5-billion portfolio, has done only two bulk deals— Nazara Technologies and PNB Housing Finance—in the first five months this year.
In 2024, the fund had added 101 Indian companies to its portfolio, including Cipla, Mankind Pharma, Ambuja Cements and Welspun Living. It also sold a few, including Bajaj Electricals. Given its size, the fund mostly buys in bulk.
NBIM, the investment management division of the Norwegian Central Bank, has $1.72 trillion in assets globally as of March this year.
While it sold Home First Finance on January 14, it bought 0.8% of Nazara in March and 0.3% of PNB Housing in May. In December last year, the fund made five bulk purchases.
cThis included $2 billion in HDFC Bank, $1.5 billion in Reliance Industries, $1.4 billion in ICICI Bank, and $1 billion each in Bharti Airtel and Infosys.
As of December 2024, India is one of the top 10 holdings of NBIM, with 2.5% of its equity investments in India. It has invested 3.3% in China. Over 50% of its equity investments are in the US. What is impressive is that its India portfolio has returned 20.1% — the fourth highest after Taiwan, US and China.
According to its annual report, the fund participated in 112 initial public offerings in 2024, with investments in Hyundai Motor India being one of the top three.
On May 15, 2024, the Norges Bank executive board decided to exclude Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone due to its involvement in a port terminal in Myanmar. “Unacceptable risk that the company contributes to serious violations of individuals’ rights in situations of war or conflict,” NBIM cited as the reason.
NBIM has the highest exposure to financials in India at about $9.2 billion. This is followed by the consumer sector (around $5.6 billion) and technology (nearly $3.5 billion).
In 2024, NBIM recorded $222-billion profits. Almost 50% of this came from tech stocks, chiefly Nvidia. The fund’s top three holdings are Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) now hold more than $800 billion in Indian equities. Their share of ownership, however, has dropped from 20% to 16% over the past decade. After a sell-off early this year, FPIs invested net $2 billion in May so far.