NEW DELHI:Foreign investors have put in 2 billion dollars in the Indian capital markets in December till date, taking this year's total inflows to a whopping 42 billion dollars since January, latest data showed.

Net investment by overseas investors into Indian equities stood at 116 million dollars (553 crore) during Dec 1-26, while total inflows into the debt market for the period were 1.94 billion dollars (12,065 crore).

The debt market attracted most of the funds this month, and investment in equities was just116 million dollars.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) have invested heavily into the debt market with an exposure of 26.4 billion dollars, while16.40 billion dollars have been poured into the equities markets.

Encouraged by recent government-backed reforms and the hope of a strong revival in India's growth, foreign investors have pumped in more than 42.44 billion dollars (256,000 crore) into the Indian equities and debt markets.

 The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) along with sub-accounts and qualified foreign investors have been clubbed together by market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to create a new investor category called FPIs.

This is the first time after 2010 that the country has witnessed such a robust in-bound flow. In 2010, India attracted a net investment of 39.38 billion dollars.

This year, the mark was overtaken even before the year ended. With strong fundamentals and expectations of more reforms, the foreign investors have been attracted to the Indian markets.