The pandemic may have brought economic activities to a standstill but fund raising through public and rights of issue of equities increased nearly 28 per cent to Rs 76,830 crore during the first half of financial year 2020-21.

During the same period last year, last fiscal, funds worth Rs 60,133 crore were raised through issue of equity shares.

"Resource mobilisation through public and rights issues of equity increased to Rs 76,830 crore during H1 2020-21 from Rs 60,133 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year," said the Monetary Policy Report for October 2020 released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

It also showed that Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) turned net buyers in  the Indian equity market after panic sales in March due to flight to safety.

Mutual funds, however, were net sellers to the tune of Rs 24,801 crore during first half of the FY21.

After undergoing intense volatility in the fourth quarter of 2019-20, following the COVID-19 outbreak with a massive disruption in business activity, the Indian equity  market made a strong V-shaped recovery in the first half of FY21.

The BSE Sensex gained 46.5 per cent in April-September 2020-21 after hitting a low of 25,981 on March 23, 2020. Strong rallies in global equity markets on the back of massive fiscal and monetary stimuli in major countries and the measures undertaken in India boosted domestic market sentiments.