Reliance Industries (RIL) hired 17 banks to arrange a $1 billion loan to fund expansion, according to a sale document sent to investors. It will pay interest of 1.3 percentage points above the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) for the five-year loan, the document shows. Reliance plans to meet investors in Asia and the Middle East, document shows.

The deal will add to more than $21 billion of syndicated loans borrowers in India have raised this year to buy assets, boost production, and refinance debt, data compiled by agency show. India now accounts for 23% of the syndicated lending market in Asia outside of Japan. Vedanta Resources, India's largest copper producer, raised $1 billion to refinance debt taken to buy Sesa Goa Ltd.

Reliance hired ABN Amro Holding NV, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Bayerische Landesbank, BNP Paribas, Calyon, Citigroup., DBS Group Holdings, Fortis, HSBC Holdings, ING Groep, Mashreqbank PSC, Natixis SA, Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale, Rabobank Nederland, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking and WestLB to arrange the loan, according to the e-mail.

The arrangers are inviting other lenders to join the deal, offering fees between 75 and 105 basis points, the e-mail shows. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. Reliance will meet investors in Macau on Tuesday, in Taipei on July 16, Hong Kong on July 17, Singapore July 18, Dubai and Abu Dhabi on July 20, and Bahrain on July 21, to promote the multicurrency loan, according to the document.

Reliance is investing $5.2 billion to develop Krishna Godavari, its largest field. Gas produced in the area is expected to more than double the country's total output. The Mumbai-based group's Reliance Petroleum Ltd unit is building the 580,000 barrel-a-day refinery adjacent to a 660,000 barrel-a-day plant owned by the parent. Once complete, Reliance will own the world's biggest refinery, according to the parent.

Chairman Mukesh Ambani earns more from each barrel of oil than overseas refiners by processing cheaper, lower grades of crude at a plant two days away by ship from Middle East oil fields. Reliance earned $15.5 from processing a barrel of oil into fuel in the quarter ended March 31, compared with $7 for a plant in Singapore, the company said on April 21.

Ambani, the second-richest Indian and the world's fifth-wealthiest person, according to Forbes magazine, needs higher profits to fund $24 billion of planned investments in chemical projects in the gas-rich Middle East and increase oil and gas exploration to benefit from record energy prices. The expansion will help Reliance triple earnings in the next five years.

Reliance's profit rose 24% to Rs 3910 crore ($911 million) in the three months to March 31. The company raised $500 million from a five-year loan in September, paying interest that's 0.39 percentage point above Libor.