Indian companies raised more than Rs 49,000 crore through private placement of corporate bonds in July, taking the total to Rs 2.2 lakh crore in the first four months of the ongoing FY17. The funds have been raised mainly for expansion of business plans, repayment of debt and to support working capital requirements. As per the data available with the Sebi, firms garnered Rs 49,033 crore in July this year, compared to Rs 36,774 crore raised in year-ago period. Market analysts say fund raising via private debt placement -where firms issue debt securities or bonds to institutional investors to raise capital -- is higher compared to the year-ago level due to lower cost of raising capital through the route on decline in interest rates.