Demand for syndicated loans in India has remained strong, in sharp contrast to global volumes, as an equity market down by more than a quarter this year has eroded enthusiasm for share sales.

Indian firms raised loans worth $21.4 billion in the first half of 2008, up 70 percent over the year-ago period, according to Thomson Reuters data.

State Bank of India, India's top lender, was the most active, participating in almost half of the nation's deals in the first six months of the year, the data showed.

Global offshore loan volume in the first half slumped 23 percent to $9 billion from the same period in 2007, data from Reuters Loan Pricing Corp showed, largely due to risk aversion in the wake of credit problems in the United States.

$3 bnThe amount Reliance Power raised in its January IPO

$1.6 bnThe amount Sterlite Industries plans to raise for its plant

$21.4 bnThe amount raised in loans by Indian firms in the first half of the year 2008