---
title: "FII and DII Data Explained: How to Read Flows | RupeeCase"
description: "FII and DII flows explained: who they are, where NSE and NSDL publish the data, provisional against final, and how to read gross, net and cumulative figures."
source_url: "https://www.rupeecase.com/guides/fii-dii-data-explained"
---

## What do FII and DII mean?

When I record the pre market show, the flows line is the one listeners ask about most. So it is worth being exact about what the two labels cover.

Read 3 more paragraphs, 131 words
**FII**, foreign institutional investor, is the older name. Today SEBI registers these investors as **foreign portfolio investors (FPIs)** under the SEBI (Foreign Portfolio Investors) Regulations, 2019, notified on 23 Sep 2019. NSE's own table still uses both names, "FII/FPI". They include foreign funds, pension plans, sovereign funds and other overseas investors buying listed Indian securities. Under the FEMA (Non Debt Instruments) Rules, 2019, investment by a single FPI, or by an investor group, in one company is held within a 10 percent limit.

**DII**, domestic institutional investor, covers Indian institutions: mutual funds, insurance companies, banks and pension funds.

What neither label covers matters as much: individual investors, HNIs, corporates and brokers' own proprietary trading sit outside both groups. They are on the other side of many FII and DII trades.

₹100 in each model, Jul 2021 to Jul 2026

Rebased to 100 at Jul 2021, after charges. The Nifty 50 TRI is drawn as its CAGR line, not the daily index. Model, back tested, not actual client returns. Source: RupeeCase published model record (lineup.json), monthly. As of 31 Jul 2026.

## Where does NSE publish FII and DII data?

On nseindia.com, under Reports, the page is titled "FII/FPI and DII trading activity on NSE, BSE and MSEI". It has two tables:

1. **NSE only**: FII/FPI and DII trading activity on NSE in the capital market segment.
2. **All three exchanges**: the same activity on NSE, BSE and MSEI together.

Read 2 more paragraphs, 108 words
Each table gives, for each group, the gross purchase value, the gross sales value and the net value in ₹ crore, and can be downloaded as a CSV. The data appears the same evening. The historical version sits under All reports.

How is it compiled? The exchanges' own notes, carried on the MSEI version of the page, explain it. NSE's data is built from the client codes trading members enter with each order and the client category they upload in the unique client code details. BSE's comes from the client type marked on each order. Both are provisional and can change, among other reasons, after custodians confirm the trades.

## How is NSDL's FPI data different?

For the final foreign investor numbers, the exchanges point you to the depositories: NSDL's FPI Investments site and CDSL's FPI page. SEBI's statistics page explains that the depository figures are compiled from reports custodians submit to SEBI, cover trades up to the previous trading day, and have been published daily on both sites since 1 Jun 2014.

  1. Trade day, evening**Exchange provisional figures**NSE publishes FII/FPI and DII buying and selling in the cash market, from client codes and categories on each order.

  2. After settlement**Custodians confirm**Each FPI's custodian reports the confirmed trades. Some exchange trades are corrected or reclassified here.

  3. Next trading day**NSDL and CDSL final FPI data**Daily trends by asset class and by route: stock exchange, and primary market and others.

* **Coverage**
* **Route**
* **Timing**

  NSE, same evening
### Exchange provisional data

* FII/FPI and DII, both groups
* Cash market trades only
* From client codes on orders
* Can change after custodian checks

  NSDL and CDSL, next day
### Depository final FPI data

* Foreign investors only
* Equity, debt, hybrid, MF units, AIFs
* Exchange and primary market routes
* From custodian reports to SEBI

  Tap a side or swipe across the card.

Read one more paragraph and a list, 102 words
Three differences trip people up:

* **Coverage.** NSDL's daily report covers equity, several kinds of debt, hybrid instruments, mutual fund units and AIFs, in rupees and in US dollars. The exchange table covers only cash market trades.
* **Route.** NSDL splits equity into purchases on the stock exchange and "primary market and others", which includes IPOs and other issues. A month of heavy FPI buying in a large share sale can show up at NSDL and barely at all on the exchange table.
* **Timing.** The exchange figure is same day and provisional; NSDL's is confirmed and a day later. The two rarely match exactly.

Large Midcap fell at most 18.7% below its model high, month end to month end

The Large Midcap model, the strategy this guide uses for its examples: fall from the previous model high at each month end; 0% is a new high. Monthly points, so the daily low was deeper. Model, back tested, not actual client returns. Source: RupeeCase published model record (lineup.json), monthly. As of 31 Jul 2026.

## How do you read a day's FII and DII figures?

Each row has three numbers. Here is how the arithmetic works on a made up day. These are not market figures.

| Illustration, ₹ crore | Gross purchase | Gross sales | Net |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| FII/FPI | 12,000 | 14,500 | −2,500 |
| DII | 13,800 | 11,600 | 2,200 |

Read 3 more paragraphs, 145 words
Net is simply gross purchase minus gross sales, for that group, on that day. On this made up day, foreign investors sold ₹2,500 crore more than they bought and domestic institutions bought ₹2,200 crore more than they sold.

The two nets do not cancel out, and they do not have to. The other ₹300 crore of net selling was taken by everyone else: individuals, HNIs, corporates and proprietary desks. Every rupee of shares sold had a buyer at that price. "FIIs sold ₹2,500 crore" never means ₹2,500 crore left the market; it means one group of participants handed shares to the others.

Read the gross figures too. Gross purchases and sales of ₹12,000 and ₹14,500 crore tell you foreign investors were very active on both sides. A small net on large gross volumes is a very different day from the same net on thin volumes.

## Why does a single day's flow say so little?

Because the number describes the past, and only one slice of it. A few reasons I keep repeating on the show:

* **Provisional data moves**
* **One day is noise**
* **The cash market is not the whole picture**
* **Flows follow prices as often as they lead them**

  **Myth**When FIIs sell, the market has to fall.

  **Fact**Every sale has a buyer. The price moves to where the other side agrees to trade, and domestic investors have often absorbed heavy foreign selling. The flow tells you who traded, not what comes next.

Read a list, 98 words

* **Provisional data moves.** The exchange figure can be revised once custodians confirm trades.
* **One day is noise.** Large index rebalances, block deals and the expiry of derivative positions can swing a single day's cash figure sharply.
* **The cash market is not the whole picture.** Foreign investors also hold index futures and options. NSE publishes participant wise open interest separately; the learn question on [participant wise OI and FII data](/learn/questions/participant-wise-oi-fii-data) explains how to read it.
* **Flows follow prices as often as they lead them.** A fund that has to rebalance after a fall sells because prices fell, not before.

## What is worth tracking instead of a daily number?

If you want flows as context, a few habits make them more useful:

* **Add them up**
* **Use the right source for the question**
* **Scale them**
* **Keep the date**

Read one more paragraph and a list, 119 words

1. **Add them up.** A month or a quarter of net flows shows the trend better than any single day.
2. **Use the right source for the question.** For foreign money including IPOs, use NSDL. For the split between foreign and domestic institutions in the cash market, use the NSE combined table.
3. **Scale them.** ₹5,000 crore of net selling in a day means less in a market whose daily cash turnover is many times that.
4. **Keep the date.** Every flow figure belongs to a date and a source. Without both it is a rumour.

The blog notes on [flow as signal or noise](/blog/2026-05-20-morning-fii-flow-signal-vs-noise/) and [flow is not direction](/blog/2026-05-06-evening-fii-flow-not-direction/) go further into why I treat them as context, not as a call.

## How do you keep your own flow record?

If you want to follow flows over time, build a small log rather than relying on headlines, which often mix exchange and depository numbers without saying which.

* **Download the CSV**
* **Note the source in a column**
* **Sum by month**
* **Write down what else happened**

Read one more paragraph and a list, 130 words

1. **Download the CSV.** Use the combined NSE, BSE and MSEI file from the NSE report each evening, and keep the date with every row.
2. **Note the source in a column.** Mark each row "exchange, provisional". When NSDL's figure for the same date is out, add it beside the first, marked "depository, final".
3. **Sum by month.** Add the daily nets into a monthly total for each group, so one heavy day does not dominate.
4. **Write down what else happened.** An IPO, an index rebalance or a large block deal explains many outsized days.

After a few months of this, you will see for yourself how often the provisional and final numbers differ, and how rarely one evening's figure mattered a month later. That habit is worth more than any single reading.

## Why does this guide show no recent flow figures?

Because of a rule I follow on every education page. SEBI's circular of 8 May 2026 on sharing and using price data for educational purposes set a lag of 30 days for both sharing and using market price data in education, from 1 Jul 2026.

Read one more paragraph, 54 words
This page explains how the data works and where to find it, and you can read the latest figures yourself on the NSE and NSDL pages in the sources. I do not quote any figure from the last 30 days here, and nothing on this page is a view on where the market goes.

## Common mistake: adding FII and DII nets and expecting zero

The FII net plus the DII net is almost never zero, and people read that gap as an error or as "hidden" money. It is neither. The gap is the net trading of every participant outside the two groups, mostly individuals and proprietary traders. On a day foreign investors sold heavily and institutions bought less than that, retail and other investors bought the rest.

## How this shows up in RupeeCase

Where it sits in RupeeCase, in words
None of the RupeeCase index algos trade on flow data. [Large Midcap](/strategies/large-midcap) ranks the Nifty LargeMidcap 250 by price momentum and holds 40 names, rebalanced every 2 weeks; [Allcap](/strategies/allcap) does the same across the whole market. Flows appear on [The Tanmay Edge](/podcast/) as background for the day, alongside the learn module on [rupee and FII flows](/learn/path-7/module-7-4-inr-fii-flows-global-linkages). Large Midcap's model back test shows a CAGR of 37.83% and a deepest fall of −19.31%, as of 27 Apr 2026.

## Questions investors ask

What is the difference between FII and DII?FII, or FPI, is a foreign portfolio investor registered with SEBI. DII is an Indian institution such as a mutual fund, insurer, bank or pension fund. Both trade the same shares; they report under different categories.

Where can I see FII and DII data?On NSE's "FII/FPI and DII trading activity" report, for NSE alone or for NSE, BSE and MSEI together, with a CSV download. Final foreign investor data is on the NSDL and CDSL FPI pages.

Is FII and DII data final?The exchange figures are provisional and can change after custodians confirm trades. The NSDL and CDSL figures, compiled from custodian reports to SEBI, are the final foreign investor numbers.

What does net FII selling mean?Foreign investors sold more shares than they bought that day. Someone else bought those shares, so it shows a change in who holds them, not money disappearing from the market.

Why do NSE and NSDL FPI figures differ?They cover different things and different timing. NSE shows same day cash market trades; NSDL shows confirmed trades a day later, includes the primary market, and covers debt, hybrid and fund units.

Can FII and DII flows predict the market?No reliable rule turns a day's flows into a forecast. Flows often follow prices, data is revised, and every sale has a buyer. This page is education, not a view on the market.

SSources

## Where the figures come from.
Show the 8 sources

1. NSE, Reports: "FII/FPI and DII trading activity on NSE, BSE and MSEI", capital market segment, NSE only and combined tables with CSV download. [nseindia.com](https://www.nseindia.com/reports/fii-dii)
2. MSEI, FII and DII trading activity on MSE, NSE and BSE: notes on how each exchange compiles the data, provisional status, and NSDL and CDSL as the source for final FPI data. [msei.in](https://www.msei.in/downloads/equity-reports/FII-DII-Activities)
3. NSDL, FPI Investments, daily trends: equity, debt, hybrid, mutual funds and AIFs, by stock exchange and primary market routes. [fpi.nsdl.co.in](https://www.fpi.nsdl.co.in/web/Reports/Latest.aspx)
4. SEBI, statistics, FPI investment: data compiled from custodian reports, disseminated daily on NSDL and CDSL since 1 Jun 2014. [sebi.gov.in](https://www.sebi.gov.in/statistics/fpi-investment/latest.html)
5. SEBI board memorandum on the SEBI (Foreign Portfolio Investors) Regulations, 2019: notified 23 Sep 2019; the 10 percent limit for FPI investment in a single company under the FEMA (Non Debt Instruments) Rules, 2019. [sebi.gov.in](https://www.sebi.gov.in/sebi_data/meetingfiles/dec-2019/1575952476843_1.pdf)
6. SEBI circular HO/47/17/12(11)2025-MRD-POD3/I/11107/2026, Norms for sharing and usage of price data for educational purposes, 8 May 2026, as carried in NSE circular 44/2026 of 11 May 2026: a 30 day lag. [nseindia.com](https://nsearchives.nseindia.com/content/circulars/COMP74156.pdf)
7. HDFC Mutual Fund, What is FII and DII: the institutions each category covers. [hdfcfund.com](https://www.hdfcfund.com/learn/blog/what-fii-and-dii-meaning-full-forms-and-role-indian-stock-market)
8. RupeeCase lineup data: Large Midcap model CAGR and deepest fall, model, back tested, as of 27 Apr 2026.

  ASee it on RupeeCase

## Large Midcap
40 stocks from the Nifty LargeMidCap 250. The large and mid-cap middle path. Rebalanced every 2 weeks, in your own demat. Moderately High risk band.

  Also built on this idea: [Allcap](/strategies/allcap).

  [Sign up for RupeeCase](https://invest.rupeecase.com/signup?strategy=large-midcap)[CAGR calculator](/learn/tools/cagr-calculator)

  [CAGR37.8%Sharpe1.69Max DD−19.3%Minimum₹1,99,000Model, back tested, as of 27 Apr 2026. Minimum as of 8 Aug 2026. Not client returns, not a promise.](/strategies/large-midcap)

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* [Free module 7.4INR, FII Flows, and Global Market Linkages10 min read](/learn/path-7/module-7-4-inr-fii-flows-global-linkages)
* [QuestionWhat do participant wise OI, the FII long short ratio and FII and DII data tell me?A short answer with a dated chart](/learn/questions/participant-wise-oi-fii-data)
* [Blog noteFII flow: signal or noiseBehaviour, a short note](/blog/2026-05-20-morning-fii-flow-signal-vs-noise/)
* [Blog noteFII flow is a sentence, not a verdictBehaviour, a short note](/blog/2026-05-06-evening-fii-flow-not-direction/)

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* [Fund costsDirect vs regular mutual fund plans: same fund, different cost](/guides/direct-vs-regular-mutual-fund)
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Model figures are back tested on NSE data after costs, as of the date shown: not client returns, not a promise. RupeeCase is not a mutual fund, PMS, AIF or SEBI registered investment adviser; this is education, not investment advice.

About the figures and RupeeCaseIndex and fund figures carry their source and date. RupeeCase is a technology platform operated by QC Alpha Technologies Pvt Ltd. Research by QC Alpha Research Pvt Ltd, SEBI research analyst registration pending. Trades execute through your own SEBI registered broker and the shares sit in your own demat. Investments in securities markets are subject to market risks.