Every evening after Indian markets close, exchanges and depositories publish data on how much foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought or sold during the session. Today's wrap, for instance, cites FII net outflows of Rs 542.71 crore and DII net inflows of Rs 2,124.14 crore in the cash segment. These are provisional figures, generated from order and trade data that has been captured up to the end of the trading day but has not yet gone through the full settlement cycle.

The FII and DII flow figures published at the end of each trading day are provisional — they are useful snapshots, but the final tallies are confirmed only after settlement.

Settlement in Indian equity markets follows a T+1 cycle, meaning trades executed today are formally settled — that is, shares and money actually change hands — by the next business day. During that settlement process, data is reconciled across brokers, clearing corporations, and depositories such as NSDL and CDSL. Occasional mismatches, late confirmations, or reclassifications of investor categories can cause the provisional numbers to shift. When the final, reconciled figures are published — typically a day or two later — they may differ, sometimes marginally and occasionally by a more noticeable amount, from what was first reported. This is entirely normal and is a feature of how large, multi-participant financial markets process information.

For readers of a daily market wrap, the practical implication is straightforward: treat end-of-day flow figures as reliable directional indicators rather than precise final counts. A large provisional DII inflow, as seen today, tells you that domestic institutions were net buyers in aggregate — that signal is meaningful. The exact rupee figure, however, may be refined once settlement is complete. Similarly, index closing levels are themselves confirmed figures once the closing auction process ends, but corporate action adjustments or data corrections can occasionally cause minor revisions in historical records maintained by exchanges. Understanding this distinction helps investors read financial data with appropriate context, recognising that markets generate enormous volumes of transactions and that the process of turning raw trade data into clean, settled records takes a little time.