The Indian equity benchmarks staged a strong recovery from intraday lows hit in opening deals led by gains in Mahindra & Mahindra, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance. The Sensex recovered over 700 points from day's lowest level and Nifty 50 index moved above its important psychological level of 17,500 after hitting an intraday low of 17,345 defying weak global cues.