Foreign institutional ownership stability and stock price crash risk

This study investigates the impact of foreign institutional investors (FIIs) on stock price crash risk in India. Panel regression findings reveal that higher levels of FII holdings, signifying positional trading, exacerbate crash risk. Conversely, increased stability of FII holdings, indicative of active monitoring, diminishes crash risk. Notably, FIIs' buying interest does not influence crash risk, affirming that their risk mitigation arises from active monitoring and not from curbing selling pressure. Further analysis reveals that FII stability reduces crash risk only when controlling shareholder (i.e., promoter) equity holding is low. This promoter effect is driven by domestic promoters and not foreign promoters.