Mumbai, Feb 17 (IANS): Private sector HDFC Bank has again crossed the foreign investment limit prescribed as a percentage of paid-up capital for Indian companies, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday

Only a day earlier, on Thursday, the RBI announced that such investments had fallen below the ceiling.

The apex bank had said that foreign investors' holdings in HDFC Bank had fallen below the threshold limit prescribed under the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy.

In a raction, foreign investors bought the stock, crossing then limit.

"The foreign shareholding by American Depository Receipts (ADR)/Global Depository Receipts (GDR)/ Foreign institutional Investors (FIIs)/Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs)/ Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)/Non-Resident Indians (NRIs)/ Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) in M/s HDFC Bank Ltd has crossed the overall limit of 74 per cent of its paid-up capital." an RBI statement said on Friday.

"Therefore, no further purchases of shares of this company would be allowed through stock exchanges in India on behalf of Foreign institutional Investors (FIIs)/Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs)/ Non-Resident Indians (NRIs)/ Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs)," it added.

The RBI monitors the ceilings on FII/NRI/PIO investments in Indian companies on a day-to-day basis.

The HDFC stock surged initially on Friday after the RBI removed the ban on buying by FIIs, but fell later in the day to close at Rs 1,377.15 a share, up 49.80 points, or 3.75 per cent, over its previous close on the BSE.