State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) said that it has raised Rs 8,500 crore from the local market as a part of the company’s sovereign bonds which was oversubscribed to as much as Rs 17,183 crore.”We have raised Rs 8,500 crore from sovereign bonds. We have received 229 bids and Rs 3,700 crore were subscribed by qualified institutional investors such as ICICI Lombard, Punjab & National Bank, Postal Life Insurance, and SBI Life Insurance,” BSNL Chairman Pravin Kumar Purwar said.