WRAPUP 1-Indian firms open $1.7 bln share offers, more seen

* Move riding a near doubling of stock market since March

* More companies to launch share sales this week -sources

* Rush seen to beat budget on Monday, July 6.

By Narayanan Somasundaram & Devidutta Tripathy

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI, June 29 (Reuters) - Indian companies launched share sales worth $1.7 billion on Monday and bankers said more would follow this week, with investor confidence revived by a stock market.

The flurry of share sale came after a month-long lull and a week ahead of the federal budget. [ID:nDEL496126]

"It is not funny. These people think there could be something that could go wrong in the budget. They just feel next Monday may be too late," said Arun Kejriwal, a director at stock research firm KRIS.

The government is likely to keep tax rates broadly unchanged in its budget on July 6 and explore other avenues such as 3G wireless spectrum auction and stake sales in state firms to raise cash.

But expectations have been built in the run-up to the budget after a decisive election verdict for the ruling coalition, and analysts feel it may disappoint sections of industry and investors.

GMR Infrastructure (GMRI.BO) with a $500 million share sale, real estate firms Unitech (UNTE.BO) with a $575 million sale and $300 million by Housing Development Infrastructure's (HDIL.BO) were among offers that opened or receive commitments for as much as $1.73 billion, banking and company sources said. [ID:nBMA003245] [ID:nDEL491575] [ID:nBMA003243]

The sources, who cannot be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media, said investor appetite was strong and at times even surprising.

Investors such as Government of Singapore Investment Corp, British insurer Prudential (PRU.L), HSBC Holdings (HSBA.L), billionaire George Soros and DE Shaw have been among those investing in Indian offers so far this year, the sources said.

Other companies that could launch share sale over the next few days include Lanco Infratech (LAIN.BO) with a $400 million offer and Puravankara Projects Ltd (PPRO.BO), they said.

The pace of equity sales could double the $2.6 billion raised by 11 Indian firms so far in 2009. About three dozen firms have announced their intention to raise $8.5 billion in share sales, Thomson Reuters data showed.

India's benchmark stock index .BSESN has jumped nearly 85 percent from its 2009 low in early March, powered by net foreign fund inflows of more than $7 billion since then.