FII vs DII in August 2026: a net buy undone at the end

The headline numbers

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold a net ₹7,532 crore of Indian equities in August 2026. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought a net ₹58,268 crore. The Nifty 50 closed July at 24,383.60 and August at 24,080.40, down 1.24%.

For most of the month it looked as if FIIs would end their run of selling. Up to 27 August they were net buyers of ₹5,493.8 crore. The last two sessions reversed that.

Every figure is NSE's provisional cash-market number in ₹ crore, the series behind our FII and DII data page.

August in numbers

The month had 21 sessions.

• FIIs were net buyers on 11 of the 21, more buying days than selling days for the first time since February. Their largest purchase was 4 August, at ₹2,446.5 crore.
• The last two sessions decided the month. FIIs sold a net ₹5,039.8 crore on 28 August and ₹7,985.9 crore on 31 August, ₹13,025.7 crore together. The 31 August sale was the largest single day since 5 June.
• Without those two days, the month would have been a net purchase of ₹5,494 crore, the first since June 2025.
• DIIs were net buyers on 19 of the 21. They sold on only two days, 4 and 10 August, both days on which FIIs were buying. Their largest purchase was ₹6,425.2 crore on 26 August.

A quieter quarter so far

July and August together saw FII net selling of ₹13,311 crore, less than any single month of the year except February. Their two largest selling days, both at the end of August, were still smaller than any month's heaviest day from March to June.

It is still a sale. August is the fourteenth month in a row of FII net selling; the last month of net buying remains June 2025.

Year to date, from 1 January to 31 August 2026, FIIs have sold a net ₹3,59,055 crore and DIIs have bought a net ₹5,63,505 crore.

The index drifted

The Nifty 50 peaked for the month on 3 August at 24,774.30, its highest close since 2 March, and drifted lower from there to a low of 24,078.30 on 19 August. It ended the month 8.5% below its record close of 26,328.55 from 2 January.

The drift came while FIIs were, until the last two days, net buyers and DIIs steady buyers. As in April, the flows and the price did not tell the same story.

September has opened with FIIs back on the buying side: on 1 September they bought a net ₹1,143.4 crore and DIIs bought ₹1,846.9 crore. The Nifty 50 slipped 0.10% to 24,055.80.

What this does not tell you

Two sessions can flip a month. A month's net figure is fragile when the daily numbers are small. August's sign changed on its last two days.

DII is not one investor. Mutual funds, insurers, banks and pension funds all sit inside the figure, buying for different reasons.

The figures are provisional and partial. NSE publishes them each evening for the cash market only, rounded here to ₹0.1 crore a day. They exclude derivatives, debt and IPO allocations, so they will not match NSDL's monthly FPI totals.

A flow is not a forecast. A quiet summer says nothing certain about September.

Where to go from here

The FII and DII data page has every session. Our July flows post covers the lightest month of the year, and the August 2026 market recap covers indices and funds. For how calm the options market has become, see India VIX back near 11.