Indian corporates raised as much as Rs 6,553.91 crore by way of equity issuances last month, up a whopping 1,475% over May 2012, data collated from Prime Database showed.

This is the best-ever issuance for the month of May since 1989.

The money was raised by way of initial public offerings (IPOs), follow-on public offerings (FPOs), offers for sale (OFS), rights issue, qualified institutional placement (QIPs) and institutional placement programme (IPP). To put things in perspective, Indian companies had raised nearly Rs 4,780 crore in May 2011, around Rs 500 crore in May 2010 and Rs 3,165.45 crore in May 2009.

Experts attribute the pick-up in fund-raising activity primarily to OFS and IPP issuances. As many as 30 privately held companies sold stake last month to adhere to Securities and Exchange Board of India?s (Sebi) minimum public shareholding norms.

Sebi had set a deadline of June 3 to comply with minimum public shareholding of 25%. As many as 21 entities hit the capital market with their OFS issuances in the last five trading sessions

of May.

Large IPP issuances included that of real estate major DLF, which raised about Rs 1,800 crore and Fortis Healthcare, which raised Rs 320 crore, stock exchange data showed. Just Dial?s IPO, the biggest IPO of calendar year 2013 that was subscribed nearly 12 times, fetched another R900 crore.

Bankers said foreign institutional investors played a major role in the success of most of the issuances that hit the market in May. Experts estimate their participation could be as high as 60-65%, with long-only funds and hedge funds among the chief investors.

The strong participation from FIIs reflects a growing view that Indian markets may hit record highs this year if global liquidity conditions remain supportive. Global financial services firms like Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, UBS, Goldman Sachs and Barclays are bullish on India and expect the markets to touch new highs this year.

?The window of opportunity was very small and, once the sentiment towards secondary markets began to improve, companies rushed to tap the capital markets,? said an analyst with a UK-based financial services firm, requesting anonymity.