Mumbai: For the first time in more than two decades, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) have overtaken foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) over ownership in companies listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). This information was given in a new report on Friday.

This change reflects the increasing interest of Indian investors in equity markets, as more and more people are moving away from traditional investment options such as fixed deposits and real estate. According to the compiled data from Priminfobes.com, the DII stake in the NSEs listed in the March quarter was 17.62 percent, which is an increase of 0.73 percentage points.

Meanwhile, FPI's stake fell to 17.22 percent with a slight decline of 0.02 percentage points. Ten years ago, FPI had a 20.71 percent stake, which at that time had higher than the joint stake of DII, retail investors and high net-department persons.

In the last five years, domestic institutes such as mutual funds, insurance companies and pension funds have been investing heavy in the stock market. Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund Chief Executive A. Balasubramaniam said, “Now more people are choosing the option of mutual funds, national pension systems, insurance and direct equity. This has increased over ownership in Equity of DII.”

Pranab Haldia, managing director of the Prime Database Group, described it as a historic moment for the Indian capital markets. He described continuous investment from retail investors through Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) as a major factor.

This change in investment patterns has greatly increased the DII's share in the equity market and experts believe that the trend will continue. Meanwhile, despite global uncertainties, the Indian stock market performed strongly in April.

The Sensex increased by 3.65 percent this month due to the rise in banking and financial shares, while the Nifty increased by 3.46 percent. Banking stocks gained an edge, in April, the Nifty Bank index recorded a jump of 6.83 percent.

Other major areas like Auto, PSU Bank, Financial Service, FMCG and Real Estate also saw a good rise, each of which gave more than 4 percent returns.