Foreign stocks in Indian equity funds: under 1%

The number

On 31 August 2026, Indian equity mutual funds held ₹37,337 crore in overseas securities. That is 0.96% of their combined net assets of ₹39.05 lakh crore.

Only 33 of 587 schemes held any at all.

The data is the AMCs' monthly portfolio disclosures for 31 August 2026, for the schemes in SEBI's equity categories, one row per scheme. Fund-of-funds that invest abroad through a foreign fund are a separate category and are not included. "Overseas" means a security whose ISIN is issued outside India: 274 foreign companies and 13 foreign funds or ETFs (₹2,061 crore of the total).

Mostly American

US-issued securities were ₹33,213 crore, 88.95% of the overseas money. Taiwan, Ireland (where many ETFs are domiciled), Luxembourg and Japan account for most of the rest.

Alphabet alone is 28% of all the foreign money. EPAM and Cognizant are IT services companies with large Indian operations, which helps explain their place on a list otherwise made of the largest US technology companies.

Two kinds of fund hold foreign stocks

International funds. Five schemes invested 65% or more abroad, ₹6,252 crore between them:

ICICI Prudential US Bluechip Equity is the largest of them by rupees, with ₹3,869 crore abroad.

Domestic funds with a foreign slice. The other 28 schemes held ₹31,085 crore abroad, a median of 6.13% of each. Two of them account for most of it:

• Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund: ₹16,288 crore, 11.05% of its portfolio, and 43.6% of all the overseas money in these 587 schemes.
• SBI Focused Fund: ₹5,350 crore, 10.44%, mostly in Alphabet and EPAM.

Between them, those two funds hold 58.0% of the equity schemes' overseas money. The rest is spread thinly: technology funds such as SBI Technology Opportunities (13.19% abroad) and Franklin India Technology (20.03%), and a few diversified funds at a few percent.

Why so little

Indian mutual funds can invest abroad only within an industry-wide limit that SEBI sets and the AMCs share, and that limit has often been fully used. Many houses run their foreign exposure through fund-of-funds instead, which are not counted here. And most equity schemes simply have Indian mandates: a mid-cap or small-cap fund is defined by Indian companies.

What this does not tell you

It is one month. The figures are for 31 August 2026. Foreign holdings move with exchange rates as well as prices, and we have no earlier disclosure to compare with.

The ISIN is a rough guide to "foreign". A depositary receipt of a Taiwanese company carries a US ISIN, so country splits here describe where the security was issued, not where the business is.

Foreign is not automatically diversifying. Most of this money is in a few US technology companies, which move together. None of this is a recommendation to buy or sell any fund or stock.

Where to go from here

The guide to international mutual funds explains the routes Indian investors have abroad, and currency risk in international funds covers what the rupee does to the returns.

For the domestic side, see the stocks Indian mutual funds own most and IT stocks in mutual funds.

For funds that invest abroad by design, see international funds and the rupee.