Chennai:(IANS) Investments through Participatory Notes or P-Notes route in the Indian stock markets touched Rs 178,437 crore at the end of March 2017, the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said on Thursday.

According to the data released by SEBI, total investments in equity, debt and derivatives via P-Notes shot up to Rs 178,437 crore at the end of March 2017, up from Rs 170,191 crore at the end of February this year.

The investment figure via P-Notes route at the end of January 2017 was Rs 175,088 crore.

P-Notes are instruments issued by Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) to overseas investors, who want to invest in the Indian stock markets without registering themselves with the SEBI.

According to SEBI data, the investments in equity and debt excluding derivatives at the end of March 2017 stood at Rs 124,277 crore, with equity alone attracting Rs 111,803 crore.

The P-Note investments in debt and derivatives at March-end stood at Rs 12,475 crore and Rs 54,160 crore, respectively.