Foreign investors made net investments of more than Rs 22,000 crore (nearly $4bn) in the Indian stocks in the month of January, figures released by capital market regulator Sebi revealed.

During January, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 77,859 crore, and sold equities worth Rs 55,800 crore, which gave a net inflow of Rs 22,059 crore ($4.05bn).

The past month was the seventh quarter in a row in which the Indian equities attracted net investment from FIIs.

FIIs purchased 60 per cent of the recently allotted OIL India Ltd shares by pumping in nearly Rs 1,800 crore. The remaining 40 per cent of the quity in India's second biggest explorer was bought by Mutual Funds, banks, insurance companies and retail investors.

So far this year, foreign investors have invested Rs 23,101 crore in the Indian equities and around Rs 3,639 crore in the the country's debt market. In response, the country's benchmark Sensex has so far gained 355 points or 1.82 per cent.

The government's measures like the postponement of GAAR implementation by two years and partial decontrol in diesel prices encouraged foreign investors to invest their money into Indian equities. Easing of key interest rate by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also encouraged foreign investors.