Mumbai: Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, which has the highest return on assets of India finance firms, raised $410 million (Rs1,611 crore) in a share sale to boost funds as consumers and companies borrow more in the world’s fastest-growing major economy after China.

The bank sold 17 million shares at Rs950 a piece, 2.9% lower than Wednesday’s closing price, to raise Rs16.15 billion, the bank said in a statement on Thursday.

Kotak Mahindra followed other privately owned Indian banks in tapping funds from equity markets. ICICI Bank Ltd, the second biggest, raised about $5 billion, while HDFC Bank Ltd, which ranks third, sold about $1 billion of shares earlier this year.

“There’s a huge opportunity for banks to grow given the strong domestic spending,” said V. Suresh Babu, head of the securities brokerage at Spark Capital Advisors Pvt. “Funds are essential to keep the growth momentum.”

Indian banks may raise more than $10 billion, the most in a single year, including $2.5 billion by State Bank of India, the nation’s biggest, which is yet to decide when to hold its public offering, O.P. Bhatt, its chairman, said on 12 September.

Kotak Mahindra shares rose Rs4.75 or 0.49% to 983.30 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Thursday. Bloomberg