The highest single-day investment by the foreign institutional investors took place on last Friday when they invested $126.7 million or over Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion).

This could very well be the beginning of a new chapter in the FII story in India.

For, if the feedback from the United States is anything to go by, a huge pile of money seems to be waiting to enter the country.

Recently, representatives from the markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India and the stock exchanges held a roadshow in the US to invite more institutional investors to the country.

According to sources familiar with the developments, the response to the roadshow was phenomenal.

At present, there are 509 registered FIIs operating in the country and the number is increasing with a lot of foreign investors queuing up to register themselves. Sebi sources said that the only hurdle that the FIIs were facing was regarding the time taken for registration.

But recently Sebi has relaxed the norms resulting in the registration process getting completed in seven days if all other things are in place.

According to data from Emerging Portfolio.com Fund Research, global emerging market (GEM) equity funds are attempting to outperform the benchmark MSCI EMF index which has gained nearly 20 per cent year to date by overweighting mainly India, Brazil and Thailand in their portfolios.

According to the fund research firm, the largest average overweight among emerging markets, however, is India, where GEM funds have an average allocation of 6.5 per cent.

The projected gross domestic product growth of 5 per cent this year and 6 per cent next year, falling interest rates and a growing middle class that is supporting growth in the consumer goods sector have all added to the bullishness of funds on India, it said.

On a regional basis, GEM equity funds have nearly 52 per cent of their assets in Asia, up from 48.8 per cent in May. Latin American equities account for 19.5 per cent of the assets.

Fund managers have been increasing their exposure to Asia and Latin America at the expense of Emerging Europe and Middle East and Africa.