Citigroup Global Markets, Goldman Sachs Investments, HSBC, Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, Morgan Stanley and Swiss Finance Corporations, the investment arms of the US-based merchant bankers, pulled out Rs 35,000 crore (Rs 350 billion) during the period, which is 56.5 per cent of the total withdrawals.

The total outflow figures are based on stock exchange data, while the individual FII numbers were gleaned from the shareholding patterns of the companies concerned.

The FIIs sold shares in 355 companies between December 2007 and June 2008. They held more than one per cent in these companies in December last year, but the stake slid below one per cent by June 30 this year. Exchanges usually publish the names of non-promoters who own more than one per cent in a company.

The market value of the outflows was derived by multiplying the average market price of the shares in the last six months by the number of shares held as on December 2007.

Citigroup, which reported around losses of $18 billion in the sub-prime crisis, reduced its holdings in 47 companies to below one per cent in the last six months. It sold shares of NIIT [Get Quote], Idea Cellular [Get Quote], HCL Technologies [Get Quote], Jet Airways [Get Quote], Bharti Airtel [Get Quote] and Suzlon Energy [Get Quote] during the period.

Bear Stearns Asset Management (BSMA), which reported losses of $3.2 billion, sold most of its stake in Indian companies. It offloaded shares of GTL, HCC, Sterlite Technologies, Adlabs Films [Get Quote], Shipping Corporation, Aurobindo Pharma [Get Quote] and KPIT Cummins Infosys [Get Quote] in the last six months. BSMA's holdings in as many as 50 companies declined to sub-one per cent levels.

Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch Capital, HSBC, Goldman Sachs and Swiss Finance Corporation reduced their holdings in 30 companies to below-a-per cent each.

Morgan Stanley sold equity shares of MTNL [Get Quote], Zee Entertainment, Unitech and HDIL, while Merrill Lynch offloaded the shares of NIIT, Dabur Pharma [Get Quote], Reliance Capital [Get Quote] and Reliance Infrastructure between January and June this year.

Overall, the FIIs reduced their holdings in 515 companies between December 2007 and June 2008, out of which the stake in 275 companies was reduced by more than a per cent each. The FII stake in Reliance Industries [Get Quote], ACC, Ambuja Cements, UltraTech Cement [Get Quote], Satyam Computer Services [Get Quote], NIIT Technologies, DLF, Unitech, ABB, BHEL, HDFC [Get Quote] and NTPC declined by over a per cent each.