With the government determined to mop up money through disinvestments and private sector firms too cashing in on the appetite of foreign instituional investors, fund raising through the equity route climbed to record levels in 2010.

In all, India Inc raised over Rs 1 lakh crore, whether it was via IPOs, FPOs or QIP, this year, topping the Rs 78,183 crore raised in 2007.

India emerged Asia?s fourth largest and the world?s eighth largest market for equity issuances in 2010. The year also saw the country?s largest ever fund-raising exercise by a company with the state-owned Coal India picking up Rs 15,000 crore-plus through its IPO.

Companies were able to raise large amounts thanks mainly to the interest of FIIs who shopped for a record $29 billion worth of Indian equities in the primary and secondary markets combines.

?The PSUs were the biggest issuers of equity, ? said A Murugappan, executive director at ICICI Securities.

If 2010 was a busy year for investment bankers, 2011 is expected to be as busy if not busier. Most bankers believe the current momentum will continue and expect another record year of equity issuances. S Ramesh, COO at Kotak Mahindra Capital, believes 2011 will be a good year for fund raising and expects an equal mix of issuances from the government and the private space.

However, whether the amount raised in 2010 will be crossed next year will depend on the state of the secondary markets and also on how government disinvestments pan out. ?Assuming government disinvestments are on track, we could even surpass 2010 in terms of fund raising,? said Rajagopal A, MD – head of equity capital markets: South and South East Asia, Standard Chartered Bank.

?Whether we top 2010 in terms of fund raising will depend on the government?s disinvestment pipeline, which will be known in the budget,? said Girish Nadkarni, executive director at Avendus Capital.

According to Delhi-based SMC Global, about 100 companies from the private sector, which could cumulatively raise Rs 50,000 crore, are waiting to tap the capital markets. A third of them already have a go-ahead from Sebi for the same. A similar amount could be raised through state-owned companies; the pipeline indicates the total public issue volume of about Rs 90,000 crore in 2011. The government itself is likely to come out with issuances worth Rs 25,000 crore by March in order to achieve its disinvestment target of Rs 40,000 crore set for the current financial year. The state has so far raised about Rs 22,700 crore. The remaining will be achieved by disinvestments in ONGC, SAIL and Hind Copper.

Meanwhile, the share sale in Indian Oil Corporation has been pushed to the next financial year.

Meanwhile, some of the big IPOs from the private space will be from Jindal Power, Sterlite Energy, L&T Finance and Embassy Property.