Overseas investors bought a net 23.1 billion rupees of Indian stocks yesterday, raising their investment in the equities this year to 711.3 billion rupees, or $13.8 billion, according to the nation’s market regulator.

Foreigners bought 59 billion rupees of shares and sold 35.9 billion rupees, the Securities & Exchange Board of India said on its website today. They bought a net 3.35 billion rupees of bonds, taking total inflow into debt this year to 240.8 billion rupees, the data show.

The benchmark BSE India Sensitive Index (SENSEX) has increased 19.7 percent this year, helped by the biggest overseas equity flows among 10 Asian markets tracked by Bloomberg. Flows surged to a record in 2010, making the Sensex the best performer among the world’s top 10 markets. The largest-ever outflow in 2008 led the biggest annual slump of 52 percent.

Foreigners have invested 5.155 trillion rupees in stocks and 1.448 trillion rupees in bonds since they were allowed into the country in 1993.

The regulator provides data on shares bought and sold by large investors, including trades in the primary and secondary markets, with a delay of at least a day.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paresh Jatakia in Mumbai at pareshj@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Arijit Ghosh at aghosh@bloomberg.net