The Indian equity benchmarks edged higher on Monday led by gains in index heavyweights like HDFC Bank, Infosys, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, HDFC, Asian Paints and Tech Mahindra. Drop in oil prices in international markets and reports that India could buy Russian oil in rupee terms boosted investor sentiment, analysts said. The Sensex rose as much as 310 points and Nifty 50 index briefly moved above its important level of 16,700.